


Harry Potter and The Veil of Death

by Gaithius



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Canonical Character Death, Crossover, F/M, Graphic Description of Corpses, Lori Grimes Bashing, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Romance is there, Sirius Black Lives, Sirius is best godfather, Tonks deserves better, Too Many Characters to Tag, but not all of them, it's just not hugely important to the story and plot, not romantically focused
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-24
Updated: 2020-09-19
Packaged: 2020-09-25 05:47:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 38,485
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20371681
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gaithius/pseuds/Gaithius
Summary: All it takes is a single sidestep, and the entire world Harry knew has changed. During the battle between the Order and the Deatheaters, Sirius dodges a fatal spell, and Bellatrix’s spell hit the veil, causing a series of dominos no one knew existed to fall. The Veil, still largely a mystery to the Ministry, reacted badly to the killing curse, sending out a shockwave into the room than transported it’s occupants to a new world, one filled with death.Now, members of the Order and Dumbledore’s Army must adjust to a new and dangerous world, where corpses walk and humanity is lost. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Luna, and Neville are joined by Lupin, Sirius, and Tonks in their efforts for survival.





	1. Death Eaten

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to my first crossover on here! This exists partly because I'm self-indulgent and partly because there aren't enough HP/TWD crossovers, so I'm going to write it myself. A couple of things to note:   
1) I love Tonks/Lupin, but I also love wolfstar so here we are.   
2) I have little idea on what sort of writing schedule I can maintain with school coming up, so posting may be sporadic. I am trying to get a bit of a headstart before school starts though.  
3) Research done varies from minimal to way too in-depth, please bear with me.  
Think that's it... Enjoy! A bit of a short introductory chapter, but they will get longer and hopefully more exciting soon.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All it takes is a single sidestep, and the entire world Harry knew has changed. During the battle between the Order and the Deatheaters, Sirius dodges a fatal spell, and Bellatrix’s spell hit the veil, causing a series of dominos no one knew existed to fall. The Veil, still largely a mystery to the Ministry, reacted badly to the killing curse, sending out a shockwave into the room than transported it’s occupants to a new world, one filled with death.  
Now, members of the Order and Dumbledore’s Army must adjust to a new and dangerous world, where corpses walk and humanity is lost. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Luna, and Neville are joined by Lupin, Sirius, and Tonks in their efforts for survival.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to my first crossover on here! This exists partly because I'm self-indulgent and partly because there aren't enough HP/TWD crossovers, so I'm going to write it myself. A couple of things to note:  
1) I love Tonks/Lupin, but I also love wolfstar so here we are.  
2) I have little idea on what sort of writing schedule I can maintain with school coming up, so posting may be sporadic. I am trying to get a bit of a headstart before school starts though.  
3) Research done varies from minimal to way too in-depth, please bear with me.  
Think that's it... Enjoy! A bit of a short introductory chapter, but they will get longer and hopefully more exciting soon.
> 
> 6/22: And so the updates begin! First three chapters have been edited, so I suggest rereading a bit since I did shift some plot points a bit (nothing too major).

Flashes of light illuminated the Department of Mysteries in red, green, and silver. Deatheaters cloaked in black were scattered about the room, casting curse after curse at members of the Order. Shouts of pain and anger rose from either side, taunts thrown back and forth as often as spells. Standing beside Sirius, dueling fiercely with Lucius Malfoy, Harry felt on top of the world, adrenaline racing through his veins as he raised his wand.

“Expelliarmus!” The spell rolled smoothly off his tongue, and Harry felt a flash of pride as the blonde’s wand flew from his hand and out of sight.

“Nice one James!” Sirius shouted with a grin on his face, stepping forward to fire a final shot at the Deatheater, blasting him backward. Harry paused, an almost frown appearing on his face—James?

“Avada Kedava!”

The world stood still as Harry heard those dreaded words, the flash of green shooting towards them in his periphery. He didn’t have time to raise his wand, to cast a defensive spell. It was going to hit him, it was going to kill Sirius.

Sirius sidestepped. There was a loud bang, a whirlwind of dazzling colors blinding Harry as he whipped his head towards the source of the noise. The world seemed to falter, spinning wildly and forcing him off his feet. Distantly, Harry registered screams of panic, his own voice added to the mix as a strange pulling sensation rippled through his body. Harry felt himself hit hard ground, his head smacking painfully into it and sending his glasses skittering off to some unknown place. The world was still spinning colors, now more blurred than anything.

When everything finally stood still again, all Harry could hear was screams of pain. His muscles groaned in protest as he tried to rise, but he still jerked instinctively away from a touch on his shoulder. The hand returned, gripping him tightly, and he suddenly felt the world jerk wildly again before settling once more. The screams were more distant now, but they lingered in the air, chilling Harry to his bones.

“Harry! Harry, are you alright?” A soft voice frantically called; it sounded like Sirius. A wave of relief hit him—he hadn’t simply imagined Sirius surviving.

“Sirius! Sirius, what’s going on? Where are we? Where’s Ron and Hermione? Ginny?” Harry’s voice broke embarrassingly, but he gripped his Godfather’s arms like a lifeline. He could see the blurry outline of his wild mane of hair, but beyond that, he was blind to the world.

“We’re here, Harry. We’re all okay. Here, these may help.” Things suddenly came into focus as a pair of glasses were placed on his face. Hermione’s face—wrought with concern—swam into view, Sirius hovering nervously over her shoulder. Harry turned, looking around at the others gathered in the group.

Ginny was standing next to Tonks looking quite pale, Neville sitting curled in on himself at their feet. Ron hovered between Harry and Ginny, trying to decide who he needed to worry about more—his sister or his best friend. Even the unflappable Luna looked perturbed and pale, staring at the ground determinedly. Lupin was a few paces away, wand raised as he muttered presumably warding spells. Everyone was bruised and battered, cuts bleeding idly and clothes ripped at the hems. Tonks’ hair was shifting between pale pink and green, seemingly mirroring her anxiety as she shifted from foot to foot, eyes darting about the clearing. Still, everyone was relatively unharmed, so Harry breathed a sigh of relief.

“We don’t know where we are, but it seems Mad-eye and Kingsley escaped whatever sent us here,” Sirius said carefully, eyeing his godson with concern, “They escaped the Inferi, but the Deatheaters didn’t.”

“Inferi?” Harry still felt lost and disoriented, even more so with yet another wizarding term he had never heard of being thrown in the mix. Would he ever catch up?

“Reanimated corpses,” Hermione supplied, worrying her bottom lip. She crouched down, face crumbling, “Oh Harry, it was horrible! The Inferi… they just swarmed them. We were all close enough together that Tonks and Professor Lupin could just grab us and escape, but they… Harry they ate them! I wouldn’t wish that fate even on our enemies.” Hermione buried her face in his shoulder, and Harry tried his best to pat her head gently at the awkward angle. Ron quickly stepped up to pull her into a hug, though he looked as pale as her. The screams finally fell silent.

“They aren’t typical Inferi,” Lupin offered, returning to the group at last. He looked more haggard than usual, the bags under his eyes more prominent and his clothes dusted with dirt and blood. “Typically, Inferi avoid fire, as heat and light are their weakness. For one reason or another, these did no such thing, even when I summoned a fire whip. I suspect they are better defined as Zombies, though from all the research I’ve done those are only found in the United States or Hati, and rarely are they in such large groups.”

“So, either Inferi aren’t actually Inferi, or we aren’t in England anymore,” Harry said quickly, trying to summarize the new information. Neville whimpered, and Luna shrunk in on herself.

There was heavy silence in the group, all nine members trying to come to grips with their new situation. Finally, Lupin lifted his wand once again, murmuring a spell beneath his breath. A large, silvery wolf sprung from the tip, pacing a few steps around the clearing before halting in front of Lupin.

“Message to Kingsley Shacklebolt: Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks, Sirius Black, and the six Hogwarts students are safe. Please send a retrieval team as soon as possible. There is a possible Zombie or Inferi infestation in the area. End message,” Lupin intoned calmly, his easy cadence putting Harry at ease. Even when the werewolf was a teacher at Hogwarts, Harry had found solstice in his calm nature and ease of action in a crisis.

The wolf made no move to deliver the message, and Lupin frowned, dispelling the Patronus before recasting it.

“Message to Alastair Moody: Members of the Order and Hogwarts students are safe, please send a retrieval team.” The wolf stood still. Lupin’s frown deepened, hurriedly dispelling and recasting it.

A message to Dumbledore failed, then one to Arthur Weasley, Molly Weasley, even the Minster. Each time, the message was shorter and more frantic, but the wolf stood before it’s master, unperturbed. Finally, Lupin gave up, dispelling the Patronus for the final time and lowering his wand.

“Oh no,” Hermione’s quiet whimper broke Harry from his shock, and he turned to the witch. She had withdrawn from Ron to watch Lupin and was now staring wide-eyed at her former professor with utter fear.

“What is it ‘Mione,” Ron asked, and all eyes turned to her now.

“I-I just… Correct me if I’m wrong, but Professor, if your Patronus message won’t even leave the area, then that means… they aren’t…” Hermione choked on her words, covering her mouth as her eyes began to water.

“It could mean one of several things, Hermione,” Lupin said calmly, though his face was grave, “It could mean our magic is malfunctioning, or the others magic is malfunctioning. It could mean they are dead--” Lupin raised his hands placatingly at the shouts of distress, talking over the cries, “--but considering how spread out everyone is geographically, I doubt that. It could also mean we are out of range. We simply don’t know, the Veil is largely under-researched from what I hear, so the effects are unknown.

“How could we possibly be out of range of a Patronus,” Ginny asked, sounding vaguely scandalized.

“We could be in another world,” Luna offered, her voice wavering slightly as if the possibility was terrifying, even to her. 

Silence followed this statement, deafening and absolute. Was it possible? Could they be in another world? Harry couldn’t quite believe it, everything looked the same. There weren’t four-headed pigs and talking lizards walking about, how could everything be so normal if it wasn’t there world? At least moving from Muggle society to Wizarding society was a clear shift--Muggles didn’t have Blast-Ended Skrewts singeing eyebrows off.

“I won’t ignore the possibility,” Lupin replied after a long moment, pinching his brow, “But I can’t say what’s going on yet. For now, we need to operate as if we are in a foreign land, whether or not it is a foreign world will come later. I’m afraid we cannot hope for help from the other members of the Order or the Ministry, at least not until the Veil is better understood.”

“S-so, what do we d-do?” Neville sniveled, forcing himself to his unsteady feet. At the moment, he didn’t look like a Gryffindor, but Harry could see how much courage it took to keep him standing upright.

“We survive.” It was Tonks who spoke, her typical cheery voice thick with sorrow and determination.

Harry surveyed their group. Hermione and Ron, his closest friends, Ginny, Luna, and Neville, all of whom risked their lives to help him track down Sirius. Out of all his classmates, he was glad to have them by their side; quickness in a fight, clever minds, and loyal to the extreme. Then there was Sirius, his only true family in his mind, soulful and raucous, balanced by Lupin’s calm collectedness and seemingly infinite knowledge. Tonks’ wit and Auror skills were dangerous in their own rights, while her cheer brought them a smile. 

They would survive. They had to.


	2. Stepping Stones

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Order and the students begin to adjust to the new world, having their first true encounter with the Inferi while struggling to learn more about the creatures and the world they inhabit. To survive they must keep their wits about them, find some weapons, and--most importantly--find out what in Merlin's name in going on.

The group took a few minutes to try and gather themselves before Lupin took charge and directed them to their first steps in their new world. They needed to find out the extent of the infestation, if there was somewhere safe they could apparate (“Can’t apparate blindly, we could get splinched or worse!” Tonks had explained), and how to destroy the Inferi. They had to assume they were stuck here for a fair length of time, whether ‘here’ was outside of England or their world. Information was key to survival, it always had been. Now with a clear plan and level head, Lupin led the way out of the clearing.

The nine witches and wizards drew their wands nervously, following Lupin as he left their safe hollow in the woods. The forest consisted mostly of tall oaks and thick underbrush, most of which Neville explained were common in warmer climates. There were no birds calling, only the sound of leaves and sticks crunching underfoot as they carefully approached the clearing where they landed. Lupin stopped just outside of the space, motioning for the procession to fan out. Harry quickly moved to stand between Ginny and Hermione, Sirius flashing him a smile from a few paces to his right.

It was a ghastly sight before them, and perhaps the only reason Harry didn’t keel over that instant was the distinct lack of food in his stomach. Neville wasn’t so lucky, and emptied his dinner somewhere behind them. About a dozen Inferi were gathered around bloodied corpses, their rotting grey bodies coated in the red flesh of their meal. Wet smacking and gurgled growls filled the air, the scent of decay and coppery blood hitting the witches and wizards like a brick wall. Harry found himself thankful he could see little more than the edges of torn black cloaks and a familiar tattered dress that belonged to Bellatrix, the throng of Inferi clustered too close together. He wasn’t sure he could really stand the sight of corpses torn apart, even if they were Death Eaters.

One Inferius finally looked up from its meal, a strand of flesh hanging limply from its mouth as it caught sight of fresh prey. With a strangled groan it staggered upward, drawing nearer to the group with every uneven step. Lupin lifted his wand steadily, eyeing the creature as he flicked his wrist, silently casting the Leg-Locker curse. The Inferius stumbled, still groaning and gnashing its teeth as it tried to crawl towards its prey. The other creatures finally noticed and began to swarm towards the group, but Tonks and Sirius mimicked Lupin and effectively slowed their attack to a near halt.

Lupin cleared his throat, pointing his wand squarely at the Inferius nearest to him before clearing incanting:

“Bombarda.”

The Inferius’ head exploded with a loud bang, spattering bits of rotten grey matter on the shoes of those nearest. Neville whimpered while Ron and Hermione flinched back, Sirius barking out a surprised noise. The Inferius, now missing most of its skull, lay still at last. Tonks magically dragged the body towards the group, toeing it carefully to ensure it was truly dead; when it still made no move to rise again, Tonks bounced on her toes and made a pleased noise.

“They can be killed, that’s good news!” Tonks raised her own wand, pointing it at the next Inferius, “Diffindo.”

This time, the Inferius was severed in half, the torso coming away from its legs. It began to frantically crawl towards its prey, significantly lightened now. Tonks made a face, her bubblegum pink hair turning a shade of pale green as the rotting guts spilled over the forest floor. Flicking her wand once again, Tonks split the Inferius’ head down the middle, and it lay still at last.

“Bravo, Tonks! You’ve got to hit their heads it seems,” Sirius announced with a forced sense of cheer. He lifted his own wand, “Reducto.” Another Inferius’ head simply shattered, and it fell silent. “Come on now, everyone give it a go! Practice is good, that toad Umbridge was a rubbish teacher to you lot.”

The six students glanced uncertainly at each other, before raising their own wands at the gathered group of Inferius. Flashing lights and clear spells quickly reduced the rest of the back to inanimate corpses, bits of black oozing blood and guts splattering on the groups’ shoes. Neville looked positively ghostly by that point, and Luna was as pale as her hair.

“So, a well-placed spell will take them down, no problem,” Sirius began, waving his wand over the group to clean their clothes of guts, “Just aim for the head.”

“They function like Zombies in that manner,” Lupin provided, casting a glance around the clearing, “Hit their brain and the reanimation stops. We should be wary of those who are bitten though, many cases report those bitten by Zombies die and reanimate regardless of necromancy use or not. That being said,” Lupin turned to the half-eaten corpses of the Deatheaters, flicking his hand and reducing them to ash, “There, that should do it. I think it best not to dwell on this right now, we’ve made quite a lot of noise here already. Let’s find out how large this infestation is now.”

As it turned out, this involved snagging some newspapers from the nearest house and riffling through them until they could piece together the story. They quickly discovered they were in the United States, specifically in Atlanta, Georgia, which was a troubling thought--a whole ocean was between them and England. With a little explaining from Harry and Hermione on Muggle newspapers (“Why aren’t the pictures moving?” “Focus, Ron!”) the group managed to put together a rough outline of the events.

To the Muggle world, the Inferi infestation--they had chosen the name for the creatures they were collectively more familiar with--was an illness that infected and spread through the population so rapidly it quickly grew out of control. As far as they could tell, it had caused worldwide devastation, though supposed “safe zones” were established in major cities—Sirius snidely noted the dates on those papers were almost a month old and the safe zones were possibly gone now. The fact that none of them--not even Hermione who still paid attention to the Muggle world--had heard of this infestation lent weight to Luna’s theory of an alternate world. Reading through the papers gave more and more evidence to this point; the UK had suffered severely, England’s more densely populated towns falling quickly and never recovering. There was no way Hogwarts would have been immune.

The papers were certainly out of date, giving advice for survivors to head to cities and avoid the mysterious illness. Reports from hospitals were disturbing but obviously filtered, shying away from news of death tolls and what happened after death. Tonks eventually held up her paper victoriously, a grin on her face as she pointed to a list of symptoms to watch for in order to identify the sick.

“Fever, unquenchable thirst, hunger, delusions, death, and of course, reanimation,” Tonks read aloud, her frown deepening as her hair faded to a much less saturated purple, “Sounds…”

“Horrible,” Hermione whimpered softly. An unsettled silence fell over the group as they huddled in an abandoned kitchen, newspapers spread around them chaotically. Eventually, Sirius rose to his feet and placed his hand on Harry’s shoulder.

“We should try and find some supplies, a city might do us some good,” He declared, ruffling his godson’s hair, “Harry, I’m sure we can find a map around here! Let’s find us a city, shall we?”

...

Three hours later, all nine witches and wizards were crammed tightly into a stolen van packed full of supplies, enchanted to run silently. With Sirius in the driver’s seat (“I’m an excellent driver, Moony!”) they were making rather good time, particularly without other drivers to get in their way. Lupin was settled in the passenger’s seat, combing more thoroughly through the newspapers while humming along to the music sounding from the cassette tapes they had found in the house. Tonks sat in the second row, Ginny and Luna on either side of her; the Metamorphmagus was entertaining the girls with various caricatures of teachers (Snape with a nose twice as long as his face nearly caused the car to crash as Sirius howled with laughter). Neville was tucked at the feet of Harry in the third row, while Ron and Hermione had bundles of shrunken supplies in their leg space. Everything from food to paperclips was taken and stored, the food sealed with a preserving charm.

Finally, Atlanta was in sight. The city had become their destination at suggestion of Hermione—her family having one time passed through it on the way to a vacation—in hopes of finding some Muggle weapons. Even if their magic was still intact, it was important to blend with any Muggle survivors they found. As the tall buildings grew ever closer on the horizon, Harry felt a tendril of trepidation creep into his mind; several of the skyscrapers looked bombed, and the thick line of cars on the exit lanes didn’t bode well. Sirius pulled the van into the shadow of a building, parking it and snatching his wand from the cup holder it was stored in as he motioned for everyone to exit.

“Wands at the ready, stay on your toes everyone,” Sirius called quietly, casting a quick silencing and defensive spell on the surrounding area, “Stay close and don’t get separated.”

Cautiously, the witches and wizards moved out to the main street, observing the destruction with careful eyes. Corpses lay scattered—some Inferi killed, some nothing more than skeletons—and debris blocked the path. Riot fences were trampled, cars abandoned and rusting, papers fluttering in the breeze. The death and destruction weren’t what put the mages on edge, but rather the utter silence around them. No ambient cars or city bustle—not that they expected the safe zone to be standing—no street dogs, no rats, not even the moans of the dead. Only the occasional breeze stirred the air.

Tonks picked her way around the debris as she led the way, wand gripped tightly and hair her natural brown—it had been decided bubblegum pink would be far too obvious a giveaway if spotted. She murmured a quiet spell, carefully raising a bus that blocked their path and shifting it to the side just enough to continue. Harry paused as they moved to pass it, gazing at the corpse propped up in a seat; it groaned and snapped at him, reaching thinning arms towards him.

“Come on now, hurry up,” Tonks hissed, glancing over her shoulder, “We can’t be caught out in the open like this. Let’s find some place with weapons and get going.”

“Oh, I don’t like this, not one bit,” Hermione murmured to herself, casting a wary glance around. The witch had faced werewolves, murderous three headed dogs, Deatheaters, and giants, yet the silence brought more fear out of her than any of that. It was almost ironic.

Cautiously, they continued on through the city, pressing close to the sides of buildings when they could. There was the occasional Inferius stumbling around, apparently as lost as they were, which one of the teachers dispatched with a quiet Diffindo and a wave of their wand. Otherwise, the city was eerily empty. The students stuck close together, arranging themselves in a loose circle between the adults, eyes peeled. When the fifth Inferi fell, they ran into trouble.

They turned the corner to a new street, and the wave of rotting flesh and growls hit them. The acoustics of the city and constant stench of death had masked the threat of what must be nearly 300 Inferi clustered in a group, looking straight at them. The undead quickly caught sight of their prey, surging forward with strangled groans of hunger, clammy hands grasping desperately toward them.

“RUN!” Sirius bellowed, casting a single Bombarda towards the hoard before turning and sprinting after his charges. Lupin took the lead, leaping clear over debris and leading the students as quickly as he could through the rubble, glancing back to ensure his best friend and comrade were still following.

“Argh! Bloody hell!” Tonks cursed, tripping over a twisted riot gate. Harry skidded to a stop when he heard the cry, whirling around to see the witch struggling desperately to free herself, her wand lying uselessly a few feet away. And Inferi was almost upon her, and Harry had only a split second to act-

An arrow whizzed by him, centimeters from his head, hitting the Inferi square in the eye. It collapsed, and two unfamiliar figures flashed past him to Tonks’ side. Harry took only a moment to stare at them, stunned, before following their lead and sprinting to Tonks.

“Come on come on come on!” A young Asian man whined worriedly, tugging at the riot gate while the other stranger grabbed Tonks and tried to pull her free. Harry stuffed his wand in his pocket and grabbed the other end of the gate, twisting and tugging until Tonks came free. With a shout of triumph, the four staggered to their feet and rushed after their friends. No one noticed as Harry bent down to snatch the fallen wand off the ground, stuffing it into his pocket with his own.

“This way, quickly! Hurry,” Sirius hissed at them, brandishing a pipe like a bat. He must have stowed his wand when the Muggles appeared, as it was nowhere in sight now. An archer stood beside him, crossbow raised and eyes steeled.

As soon as the four darted into the alley they stood in front of, Sirius and the archer ducked after them, rushing out the back and into an empty street. Lupin was several meters ahead of them, a snarl on his face as he stood protectively before the rest of their group. Luckily, everyone had the sense to hide their wands and were now brandishing bits of metal or wood like weapons, looking rather ridiculous. Sirius took the lead this time, darting quickly between obstacles and guiding the ragtag group out of the city. By the time they made it to where their van was stashed, they had lost the hoard of Inferi, though Tonks was wincing as she put weight on her foot and Neville was gasping for breath. Hermione quickly ushered her fellow Gryffindor to the van, letting him sit and catch his breath lest he pass out.

Sirius and Lupin moved between the students and the strangers, casting wary glances at them while Tonks surveyed the situation from the wall she leaned against. Harry swallowed heavily, looking between the strangers and his Godfather, trying to read the situation to no avail.

“What’er doin’ here in the city without weapons,” One of the strangers who helped Tonks asked, a heavy southern drawl almost making it difficult to understand him. He was tall and thin, dressed in relatively clean American cop clothes with a cowboy hat perched on his head. He had a duffle bag slung over his shoulder, and Harry could see the muzzle of several guns peeking out of it; he doubted Sirius or Lupin knew what they were, so he could only hope they weren’t planning on using them.

“That’s what we were looking for, weapons,” Lupin replied calmly, butting in before Sirius could reply with some snarky comment, “We didn’t know there were hoards here.”

“Those geeks gather up, you can’t go running into the city without a defense,” The Asian said almost aghast, glancing nervously behind him.

“Geeks?” This time it was Luna’s soft, airy voice from just over Harry’s shoulder.

“Geeks, walkers, even heard ‘em called biters,” The black man in the back said, “It’s what we call the dead.”

Sirius gave a short bark of laughter while Tonks giggled with amusement; Lupin huffed in exasperation, tossing a sideway glare towards Sirius. Harry saw Hermione edge up beside him, curling her hand around his wrist, which had snuck into his pocket to clench his wand tightly.

“I see,” Lupin said slowly, “And what do they call you?”

The officer shifted on his feet, hand resting on the gun clipped to his hip. He offered a half smile at the group, tilting his hat back to reveal strikingly blue eyes.

“Rick Grimes.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Hope you enjoyed, kudos and comments are much appreciated! Next chapter should be up sometime next week, it's written but needs editing.
> 
> 6/22: Updated along with chapters 1 and 3!


	3. Quarry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remus and the gang finally set out for the Quarry and meet a large group of Muggle survivors. Will it be safety or a death sentence?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am Hoping to get a biweekly update schedule going, but who knows with how wild school is. I will try not to disappear for weeks on end without word at least! If all goes as planned, next update will be towards the end of September due to obligations this week. Enjoy the read!
> 
> P.S. I totally made up an incantation for a real spell in this chapter, enjoy that.
> 
> 6/22: updated!

“The van should be right around here,” Glenn muttered to Remus, gesturing towards where Rick and Daryl were half running, “Your people ready?”

“They should be,” Remus replied, touching the walkie-talkie tucked in his trouser pocket, “Sirius may look like a lazy sod, but he’s competent enough. Tonks is adaptable, they’ll be fine.”

Remus smiled tightly as he jogged alongside the Asian man, watching the backs of the men ahead of them. Rick, a former sheriff’s deputy turned survivor; Daryl, huntsman and “hillbilly”; T-Dog, a kind soul who helped the elderly; Glenn, a pizza delivery boy. They were an odd group, almost reminding him of the Marauders in some ways.

“Oh my god…”

Remus skidded to a halt beside the four survivors as he surveyed the scene before them: empty railroad tracks, no promised van. Merlin’s pants! They had something, they almost had something! Unless he could conjure another van without the Muggles seeing, Remus was dead out of luck. They had been planning on following the Muggles back to the Quarry in their own van—with permission of course—but now it seems they would get no chance.

“Where the hell’s our van?” Daryl snarled, glaring at the empty pavement.

“It’s gone, we left it right there,” Glenn replied frantically, “Who would take our van?”

“Merle,” Rick spat the name with almost as much contempt as Sirius with the Malfoys. It wasn’t one he had heard yet, but Remus wasn’t stupid enough to ask about a tender subject in the middle of a crisis.

“We’ll have to leg it, if we hurry, we might make it back by nightfall,” Rick said quickly, taking charge of the situation, “We’ll send directions to the rest of your group, maybe have Glenn go with them just in case.”

It made sense, and it would be the most practical choice. If he wasn’t a wizard.

“No, we can get another van,” Remus said calmly, turning back towards the city, “There are plenty of abandoned vehicles around here, I can grab one and meet you guys back here.”

“What? Are you insane,” Glenn looked aghast, “You’ve got no guns, no weapons, and there are thousands of walkers in there! You won’t make it, Rick and I barely made it with the disguises!”

“Glenn’s right,” Daryl put in, “Ya won’t make it further than the main street, not to mention findin’ a workin’ car in there. Why you think they’re all abandoned?”

“I wasn’t intending on fighting my way in, I was planning on sneaking in. Before your group found us, we scouted some vehicles and Sirius found a couple that would run. I know where they are, I’ll go find one and get it back here, then we can head back up to your camp. I was rather skilled at sneaking around in my school days.” Most of that was a lie, but if Remus could get back into the city without the Muggles watching him, he could find a car and fix it up with a little magic, conjure a reasonable amount of fuel, and all would be well. Hopefully.

“You can’t go back in there alone, that’s how we lose people,” T-dog shook his head, “I don’t like this, if we’re gonna look for another vehicle, we should do it together, watch each other’s backs.”

“T-dog’s right,” Rick drawled, “We can’t go running off on our own—”

“But if all five of us go running in there, all we are doing is making a bigger target,” Remus interjected, holding his hands up placatingly, “I promise, I will be alright. This is the quickest way to get back, but if we keep standing here arguing over it then we really will get back to your camp at sundown! We need to make a move, and I happen to be the best piece to play right now.”

The four survivors surveyed each other, apparently still apprehensive; Glenn was shaking his head, lips pressed tight together while T-dog looked like he had swallowed something bitter. Daryl was eyeing him, a half snarl on his face while Rick gazed at him with piercing blue eyes. Remus had to go, now, if they were to make this work. He pulled the walkie out of his pocket and held it up.

“Sirius, please inform everyone that the plan has been changed. The van was stolen, so I will be running back into the city to find a new vehicle—it will probably be a few minutes before we can meet up again.” There was silence on the other end, then a click and a soft feminine voice.

“ _ Professor Lupin? Sirius is trying to drive right now— _ ” And didn’t know how to work a walkie, “ _ —but he says we will be there. Please be safe Professor, everyone sends their luck! _ ”

“Of course, Miss Granger. I’ll see you soon, that’s a promise,” Remus couldn’t help the fond smile at Hermione’s voice. He stuffed the walkie back in his pocket, gave the infuriated survivors a polite nod, then jogged back towards the city, ignoring the stares on his back.

As soon as he was out of sight, Remus pulled his wand from his pocket and apparated to where he had seen a car last—not far from the area and feasible for him to access without magic. He gave a cursory glance to the area, ensuring there were no Inferi around, then set to work on repairing a few internal components to the car and conjuring a small container of petrol—hopefully enough to get them to the Quarry camp. It took hardly a minute for the car to be repaired and drivable, so Remus took a minute or two more to clear some of the debris that would make it difficult to drive. He wasn’t exactly the best driver in the first place, and he didn’t need Sirius howling at him over crashing into an old bus.

It took a few attempts to adjust to the American car set up, but the faces of shocked excitement on the survivors faces when he turned the corner in a beat up but fully functioning van was enough to soothe his wounded pride. He pulled the van up alongside them, hopping out of the driver’s seat and offering Rick a flourish of his arms.

“What did I say? Here we are, a functioning van to drive us back, and look! Sirius is here,” Remus smiled pleasantly, pointing towards the rusting beige van slowing to a stop outside the fence, “I’d say we should get going now.”

“Crazy old man, actually managed it,” T-dog muttered, climbing into the back of the van as Rick passed the bag of guns and tools to Glenn. Remus jumped into the back with Glenn and T-dog, grateful to relinquish control of the van to Rick with Daryl in the passenger’s seat.

“Sirius, or rather Miss Granger, follow us. We should make it back before the sun sets if you keep up,” Remus said into the walkie.

“ _ Of course, Professor Lupin. We’ll be right behind you, _ ” Hermione’s voice sounded immensely relieved over the walkie.

The first part of the drive was spent in silence, the rocking of the van reminding Remus of the Hogwarts Express; he could almost fall asleep like this, despite the worry that dug at his mind. It had been less than a day in this new world, and already the lot of them were getting in mounds of trouble.

“So, you’re a teacher,” Glenn began, apparently fed up with the silence, “That must be nice. I mean, getting to work with kids and all, I don’t think I could really do it though. I couldn’t handle the lesson planning.”

“Was, I was a teacher,” Remus corrected, offering Glenn a smile, “Two years ago I taught at the school the children went to, but only for a year. There was a bit of a scandal between me and another teacher, so I did the right thing and retired. Miss Granger was always one for proper titles, I suppose she just hasn’t felt it important to give up that habit.”

“Scandal? What sort of scandal could a guy like you get into,” T-dog frowned, staring intently at him as if trying to pick apart what evil thing he had done.

“Oh, there is much you don’t know about me—” Like I’m a werewolf, “—though I promise it was nothing like murder. More of… collective bias against me. It doesn’t matter at this point, with the world in shambles there is no reason for bias.”

T-dog snorted, looking away, “Yeah, tell that to Merle.”

There was that name again, but before Remus could ask about it the walkie gripped in his hand crackled to life.

“ _ We can see the Quarry, Professor! It’s huge, _ ” Hermione sounded in awe, “ _ It could almost fit the entire ca-school, though not the grounds. Oh, Ronald, stop pressing your nose to the window! You’ll fog up the glass _ .”

“We are probably a minute or two from arrival,” Remus replied, “If you can contain your enthusiasm until then, Miss Granger, I’m sure it will be much more impressive in person.”

True to his estimates, the van came to a rolling halt not a minute later, and Remus felt the engine shut off. Glenn quickly jumped to his feet and snagged the gun and tool bags, T-dog pulling himself up with the help of a wall. Remus frowned and offered a helpful hand up to the injured man, though T-dog just waved him off with a grimace. The door slid open before Remus had the chance to protest, and Glenn was leaping out the back with T-dog close behind, so the werewolf had no choice but to follow.

The Quarry was indeed a huge place, the massive ditch containing a drainage pool at the bottom where the group was surely getting their water from. The surrounding rocky platforms were bathed in fading red light as the sun set, forcing Remus to shield his eyes to see more than people silhouetted. The group was large, a quick headcount revealing over twenty people not including his own group of magical people; a grimace found its way onto his face, feeding about 30 people would be difficult.

“Oi, Remus! What’s with the frown, already worrying yourself to death?” The brash and perhaps slightly too loud voice of Sirius Black graced his ears as his best friend clapped a hand on his shoulder, a wide grin on the Animagus’ face, “Now now, Moony, haven’t I told you time and time again you’ll get wrinkles all over!”

Remus felt his grimace lift into an unwilling smile as he glanced over at his friend. “Sirius, it is perfectly reasonable for me to worry in this situation,” Remus chastised, then added in a lower voice, “Make sure to filter yourself for Muggles. They’re a wary bunch, we cannot give ourselves away.”

“Oh, don’t get your pants in a bunch Remus, we’ve got this! Now come on, I think we should meet everyone properly.”

Sirius led the way up the final slope of the hill to the group of survivors, Remus following close behind. Tonks was “hobbling” along with the help of Harry and Ron, but Remus had no doubt she had already mended her ankle on the ride there.

Gathered in a vague circle shape were the survivors of the quarry, numbering over twenty and ranging in age and race. A Hispanic family were clustered together, the children watching the newcomers while their parents maintained a wary distance. A young woman with wavy brown hair pulled a freckled child close to her after accepting a kiss from Rick in way of greeting—clearly a couple, and married if the wedding bands were accurate. An elder man ambled over from an RV, fishing hat stuck on his head as if trying to hide comically large eyebrows. A fit, tanned man stood slightly off to the side, but moved forward as Rick motioned the witches and wizards closer.

“Rick, glad you made it back brother,” The man said, clapping Rick on the back in a familiar gesture, “Who are these folks?”

“Some survivors we met down in Atlanta, they needed some help so we lent a hand.”

“Rick, we ain’t got enough food to feed us, how do you think we’re gonna feed them?” The man was probably trying to whisper, but Remus had spent enough time around students to have quite keen hearing.

“Shane, we can’t just abandon people,” Rick shifted his footing, staring down the other man with an intense gaze, “They’ve got kids, six of em. We can’t just leave em to die.”

Shane looked like he was about to argue, but as he caught sight of the ragged looking children over Rick’s shoulders, he seemed to think twice about it. He gave a quick, loaded glance towards the wavy-haired woman, who gave him an exasperated look before he turned back to Rick.

“I’m sure we can figure something out,” Shane said slowly, Rick nodding his agreement. The two stood like that for several moments, awkwardly staring at each other before Sirius stepped forward with his familiar charming smile, breaking whatever trance had been there. Rick caught sight of him and quickly motioned the woman and child he had greeted forward, turning towards their guests with a welcoming grin.

“Shane, this is Sirius,” Rick began, “Shane was my partner on the police force before, he and I go way back. This here is Lori, my wife, and my son Carl.”

“Pleasure to meet you all,” Sirius said as he shook hands, “The scraggly one is Remus, that there’s Tonks, my godson Harry, Luna, Ginny, Hermione, Ron, and Neville.”

Taking his cue, Remus moved up to smile and shake hands with the rest of the group, offering polite greetings as he was introduced to the various members of the population. He carefully filed the names and faces away in his mind, knowing how far a little politeness could go even in the worst of times. Before he knew it, the nine of them were wrangled around the fire pit as plates of fish and beans were passed around for dinner as the sun left the horizon.

Sirius was seated beside a rather attractive blonde—Andrea if memory served—and was cheerfully flirting between bites, ignoring the rather annoyed or perhaps jealous looks her younger sister Amy shot towards him. Tonks was busy regaling the group with tales of her antics at school—censoring it as needed—with the children paying rapt attention. Remus was quite content to eat his meal in silence, smiling fondly at his former students as the tension in their shoulders melted away. It did feel oddly safe here, though the cynical side of him reminded him that nothing was ever truly safe, particularly in an unfamiliar world.

“So, Sirius,” Lori finally turned to speak with the shaggy haired man, “What are your plans? For your group I mean.”

“Oh, we haven’t really thought it through all the way,” Sirius turned towards Remus, a smirk forming on his face, “Remus was always the one planning things, James and I were more likely to wing it and pray to Merlin.”

“Yes, and more often than not that landed you in detention,” Remus admonished, giving his friend a look of fond annoyance, “It’s a miracle you weren’t kicked out of school.”

“So, you two have known each other quite a while,” Dale—the elder man—said, setting down his empty plate. Out of the corner of his eye, Remus saw Amy get up and head towards the RV.

“Over twenty years, we were in school together,” Remus offered, “We had a bit of a trouble-making crew back then, Sirius, me, James, and Peter. Sirius and James were the worst of the group, I just kept getting dragged into things when I was trying to study.”

“You wound me, Remus! I’ll have you know I was the worst of the group! James was always trying to catch up to me,” Sirius gave Remus and offended look, getting a bark of laughter out of Tonks.

“When he wasn’t pining after Lily,” Remus taunted.

“Boys, let’s not get into an argument over who was worse behaved,” Tonks piped up, “Clearly, none of you have ever met me.”

“Didn’t you try and impersonate a teacher at one point?” Ginny asked.

“Oh yeah, loads of times. Didn’t always work, but I did get away with a fair few things!”

“Sounds like dangerous plans, if I ever tried that while I was in school, I wouldn’t walk for a week,” Dale laughed, “If I may ask, what happe- “

A sharp scream cut off whatever Dale was about to ask, and everyone instantly shot to their feet. Remus stood unsteadily, spying the horrifying sight by the RV; Amy, covered in blood, trying to shove an Inferius off her as it tore into her neck. A loud bang sounded and the Inferius’ head exploded with the gunshot, and it fell to the ground. Another scream of pain ripped through the air, tearing out of Andrea’s throat as she staggered towards her dying sister, pleas of mercy spewing from her mouth as she grasped the younger’s shoulders.

Tonks grabbed the students and pulled them into a defensive stance, whirling around to find the source of the daner. Sirius launched himself up and moved to stand beside Remus, hand jammed in his pocket to grip his wand while he clumsily brandished the hatchet he was now using as a weapon. Rick shoved his wife and child towards Tonks, shouting at the living to defend themselves. The rest of the camp moved into action, lifting weapons with cries of fear and rage as Inferi began to stream in from the woods. Remus saw Tonks snatch a machete from a shaking man, swinging it violently into the corpses head and shoving them away from her. Sirius was herding the children towards a more defensible area, grabbing any of the fleeing living and pulling them along with him.

Rick fired shot after shot from his pistol, but for every Inferius that fell, two more appeared. Shane wielded a shotgun with the ease of a policeman, fighting beside Rick as Daryl ducked around them to smash a skull in with the butt of his crossbow. T-Dog fired clumsy shots from his rifle, hitting his target only half the time before he finally switched to a knife. There were too many… far too many. Remus felt as if he were floating, but he moved with the same calm grace he had when the Dementors attacked the train two years ago. Lift the machete, slice an Inferius, step forward, repeat. Corpse after corpse fell, but it was seemingly endless. They had no choice, one of them had to take action rules be damned.

“ _ Ignius Tempus! _ ” Remus ducked instinctively at the bellowed the incantation, hearing the shouts of confusion and surprise from those near him. He turned to his right and saw Tonks, her hair now flaming red, wand held aloft and a look of determination engraved on her face.

Flames erupted from the tip of her wand, a steady stream of red and gold that whipped itself into a massive inferno. The living quickly ducked to avoid the blaze, allowing Tonks to twirl her wand and direct the fire around the clearing. Almost as if the blaze was a living, breathing thing, it snapped violently towards the staggering figures of the Inferi, grasping their rotting bodies and swallowing them whole. The Inferi still moved forward, creating great columns of walking flame that soon crumpled as the fire’s fuel was completely devoured. Even as the Inferi continued to appear from the woods, Tonks’ fire consumed them, scorching the earth beneath their feet and setting a few trees aflame.

“Remus! The wood,” Sirius cried, withdrawing his own wand and shooting a powerful jet of water towards one of the blazing trees. Ginny was the first to follow suit, drawing her own wand and putting out the fires that burned out of line, Hermione close behind her. As the children joined Sirius in his defensive efforts, Remus drew his own wand and began some simplistic security spells—mask the scent of fire, silence the noise and hide the light of fire.

Finally, when the air was thick with the scent of scorched and rotting flesh, tainted with blood, Tonks dropped her stance and released the spell with a shaky sigh. The fire flickered briefly before sputtering out, allowing Sirius and the children to wave off the last few blazes around the camp. It was disturbingly silent in the clearing—no more screams, no groans of the dead, not even a strangled sob. Remus dreaded trying to explain this to the Muggles, but as he looked at the relieved faces of the students—who all had their wands gripped tightly now—and the drawn ones of Tonks and Sirius, he couldn’t find it in him to regret their actions. It was now or never, if it went wrong, they could simply Obliviate the lot, though he loathed to do that.

With a final sigh, Remus turned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! As always, comments and kudos are much appreciated!


	4. Repercussions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the reveal of Magic existing, the nine witches and wizards must try to reach an understanding with the Muggles in the midst of tragedy. Tensions run high between Muggles and mages as they deal with the dead, the undead, and the dying.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We are back! For those of you who missed it, chapter 4 was briefly an authors note that basically said I lost interest in this story but I'm going to try and revive it, so here I am. And!! I did it! Somewhat! Chapter 4 in all it's glory is finally here! You'll notice I went back through and edited my previous three chapters, as my writing has improved and I wanted this story to reflect that. The first chapter got a major rehaul, and the other two as well--I'd suggest going back and rereading those before you read this one. Thank you all for your patience and encouragement! 
> 
> As for a writing schedule, I am tentatively saying a biweekly basis, since I actually managed that really well for this chapter. However, if I am not in the mindset to write, I won't, so it won't be a hard schedule. I may skip weeks, I may double up on weeks. We will see. I have a better grasp on how I want to go about the plot now, so hopefully I won't lose interest so quickly now. For now, enjoy chapter 4!

Over the years, Tonks had broken, disregarded, or manipulated as many rules as she possibly could in order to accomplish what she needed to. At Hogwarts, this got her in trouble half the time, while the other half she escaped with a well-placed punch and a good disguise. In the Ministry, this almost caused her to lose her job once, before she became more level headed. Now, it saved lives. 

Tonks knew how important the Writ of Secrecy was for the safety of the Wizarding World, but she also knew it was complete bullshit at times. When it came down to the safety of her and her friends, breaking the rules didn’t even tip the scales on the balance of morality. Sirius and Remus could handle themselves, but the kids? She would fight through a million Inferi before she willingly let them die over something so insignificant.

That being said, as she lowered her wand and turned to the gaggle of startled Muggles, Tonks was wondering how in Merlin’s name she was going to explain this. More importantly, how was she going to explain to those who had lost friends why she didn’t act earlier. She could see the bodies marred with torn flesh and bite marks, some scorched by her fire. They were friends to those in the Quarry, allies. They had been alive. And now they weren’t.

With a sideways glance at Sirius and Remus, Tonks focused her attention on the kids. Ginny was standing at the head of the group, wand gripped tightly in her hand and shoulders tense, ready for a fight. Hermione looked surprisingly steady, a calming force on Ron who was clearly shaken, his freckles standing out against pale skin. Neville was quivering, though he stood beside Harry with his wand raised defensively. Even the unflappable Luna looked concerned, staring out at the woods, her eyes flicking between the charred trees and charred bodies. Thankfully, Tonks could see no signs of harm; none of them had more than a few specks of blood on them.

“Harry,” Tonks finally called out, breaking the young wizard from his trance, “You a’right?”

“Y-yeah,” Harry stuttered, glancing at Ron and Hermione, “We’re fine.”

“What the  _ hell _ was that?”

Tonks vaguely tried to mask the annoyance on her face as she turned toward the Muggle who shouted at them; he was tall and muscular, an arrogant man named Shane if memory served. She could feel Remus and Sirius tense as they moved to stand beside her, wands still held loosely in their hands. With a glance around the circle of survivors, Tonks saw Shane’s fear mirrored in their eyes--she forgot how terrifying magic could be to those who were unfamiliar with it. Taking a steadying breath, Tonks made to step forward and lead what she hoped would be a calm discussion on the subject of magic, only to be beaten to the punch by Remus. Always the negotiator it seemed.

“That was magic,” Remus said matter of factly, a steady hand on Sirius’ wrist to keep the impulsive wizard from defending unnecessarily, “Now, if you’d all lower your weapons, we can have a calm conversation on it.”

“Calm conversation?” It was Rick who spoke now, his own silver weapon--a gun? Was that the term?--held in one hand as the other pulled his wife and son close to his side, “I think the time for that has passed, ‘bout the same time you torched the forest.”

“We didn’t tour-” Harry began, a note of anger in his voice, only to have Hermione grip the back of his shirt and tug him back. Sirius tensed, shifting to stand between his godson and the Muggles.

“We also put the fires out,” Tonks replied, keeping her wand by her side but not yet stowing it, “I think that earns us a chance to talk about this.”

Silence reigned over the campsite once more, broken only by the crackling of fire in the firepit. Shane and Rick were still at the head of the faceoff, sharing glances out of the corner of their eyes as they trained their weapons at the mages. Tonks noticed Daryl Dixon shifting off to the side, glancing between Sirius and Remus, and the kids. The mothers of the group were similarly bothered by the standoff, their eyes trained on the children huddled close together, wands half raised in preparation to defend. One wrong move and things would end badly, for who Tonks did not know. The tension was thick in the air, pulling knots into her shoulders and fear into her chest.

Remus was the first to break this standoff, slowly moving to stow his wand and raising his hands in what had to be an all too familiar gesture of surrender--werewolves never had been treated fairly in their world. There was a moment of stillness, then the children followed their teacher’s example, stuffing their wands back into their pockets and offering empty hands to the Muggles. Tonks fought her instincts to defend, instead stowing her wand in the folds of her jacket and raising her hands as she moved to stand by the kids. Sirius was last to do the same, only relenting after Remus gave him a long and hard stare that had undoubtedly been perfected by years of teaching.

“We are no threat to you,” Remus said as Tonks reached the kids, giving them a concerned once over, “We only want to talk.”

For a moment, Tonks feared the Muggles would attack anyway, but then a gentle hand reached up to touch Rick’s arm. The cop glanced over at his wife--Lori, Tonks thought--and they shared a silent conversation that slowly bled the tension from Rick’s shoulders. With a final look at Shane, Rick lowered his weapon, tucking it back in his hip holster as Shane and the others pointed theirs towards the ground. Startlingly, Daryl followed suit without comment, his eyes still flickering between the adults and the kids, trying to work out some puzzle.

“Alright,” Rick drawled lowly, “Alright, let’s talk. What  _ was that _ ?” Rick punctuated his question with a step forward, gesturing to the burned clearing at ashen remains.

“Magic,” Sirius answered this time, “Simple as that. It was magic. A firestorm spell to burn the Inferi, and a water spell to put out the fire.”

“And warding charms to protect the camp,” Hermione offered, stepping out from the group despite Ron’s quiet ‘’Mione’. “Professor Lupin was casting protective charms, weren’t you?” The young witch directed the last part of her statement towards Remus, who looked a combination of proud and confused.

“Ah, yes. I was,” Remus replied after a moment, “I masked the smell, sound, and sight from outside sources, to ensure we wouldn’t bring any more Inferi our way.”

“What are Inferi?” It was Carl who asked the question, shaking and pale as he was, still curled in his mother’s grasp. Some of the Muggles seemed startled, but none moved to shush him.

“The dead,” Sirius rasped after a moment of indecisive silence from the mages, “It is what we call the dead.”

“Why the hell would you call em that?” Daryl growled, pacing his corner of the clearing like a caged animal.

“Because that’s what they are known as to wizards and witches,” Hermione offered, “Inferi are reanimated corpses, though we haven’t figured out if these are actually Inferi or more aptly described as Zombies, it all depends on how they were reanimated. Inferi are from dark wizards alone, Zombies can vary.”

Silence followed Hermione’s clinical assessment of the undead creatures at their feet, causing the young witch to shrink in on herself ever so slightly. Ginny stepped forward and put her hand on Hermione’s, a gentle sign of support.

“I know seeing magic so suddenly is jarring,” Hermione began again, her voice softer, though determination was clear in her eyes. “I never knew magic existed until I was 11 and discovered I was a witch. My whole world was turned upside down, and things didn’t make sense for a while. It only started to make sense again when I began my studies.” There was a pause as Hermione gathered her thoughts, the Muggles exchanging unsure glances among themselves.

“Magic is as innately dangerous as a gun,” Hermione offered, causing the majority of the other mages to frown in confusion, “Uncontrolled, it is unpredictable and dangerous, and in the wrong hands it is deadly, but not in the hands of good people. You shouldn’t be scared of our magic if you are not scared of your own gun.”

Something in that speech clicked with the Muggles, and Tonks could practically see the tension dissipate from the group. Rick stepped back, blue eyes roaming the mages one more time before he turned and trudged towards the wrecked camp, motioning for them to follow.

…

A half hour later, and things had… shifted. Tonks was hesitant to call it settled down, but the situation had changed.

Muggles and mages alike set aside the impending conversation long enough to count their dead, finding the number sickeningly large. 10 of the 33 Muggles were dead, including the young woman Amy. Andrea was still crouched over her body in silent pain, watching her sister’s face pale slowly. 

The 23 that survived were now loosely huddled around the fire pit, curled in on each other for some sense of safety. The Morales family were packed close, their father curling large arms around his two children and wife. Rick held his son close while his shoulders shook, Lori leaning on his shoulder. Carol had Sophia entirely in her lap, her freckled face hidden in the pale shirt of her mother. Sirius was settled on the ground, leaning into Remus’ leg as he held Harry close to his side with an arm over his godson’s shoulder. Ron, Hermione, and Ginny were settled just to the side of Harry, with Neville and Luna seated on the chairs directly behind them. Tonks surveyed the group from the lawnchair she had claimed, set next to Remus with a view of the woods.

“What all can ya do with magic,” Rick was the one to break the silence, his southern drawl almost soothing.

“Loads of things,” Ron said, earning a half hearted punch in the arm from Ginny, “I mean… At Hogwarts--our school--we’ve got classes for all sorts of things. Charms, transfiguration, hexes, jinxes, potions. We’ve even got divination--”

“If you believe that rubbish,” Hermione snapped, “Besides, that won’t make any sense to them.”

“Whadya mean? Of course it will make sense!”

“You’re thinking from a wizarding point of view,” Hermione said confidently, sitting up to give Ron her scholarly glare, “They’re Muggles, they don’t know any of those terms.” Hermione turned back to the Muggles, “Magic has almost endless capabilities. Charms alter objects without changing their essence, such as making something dance. Hexes are a subclass of charms and cause mild harm. Transfiguration changes one thing into another. Jinxes and curses are similar, both causing harm, but curses are more powerful and malevolent. Potions are just… well… potions. There are spells for almost anything, you just have to know how to cast them.”

“There spells to bring back the dead?” Shane asked from his post at the edge of the group. Hermione turned towards Remus, looking to her teacher for the most informed answer.

“I’m sure Miss Granger would be able to tell you that there are,” Remus began, his eyes flicking to the fire, “Necromancy is a form of dark enchantment done by malevolent witches and wizards with intentions to harm. There are differing levels of power and stability in reanimated beings, but the common theme is they are not what they once were. Nothing can truly reverse death, only mimic life. Inferi and Zombies are shells, corpses brought back to serve, no longer the humans they once were.”

“And you can defeat them? Right?” Glenn piped up, his voice hopeful but his eyes dark with defeat.

“As well as any of you can,” Sirius said, gesturing to the Muggles, “Our magic does not grant us control over the dead, only new means to attack.”

The Muggles seemed to deflate at that, silence reigning over the group once more. The conversation reached its end there, and the two groups had found a middle ground between hostility and trust. Soon after, things began to shift again. There were dead to handle.

The next few hours were an exhaustive blur to Tonks. Rick, Shane, and Daryl settled on burning the Inferi (“Walkers? Zombies? Whatever, we burn them.”) and burying their dead, a process sped by the graves Jim had dug the day before. Each of the dead had to have their brains pierced, a precautionary and brutal process that left Tonks feeling sick. Perhaps the only good from the whole ordeal was for Carol, who got a chance to finally,  _ finally _ take her life back, even as she cried for the loss of her husband.

Most devastating was the sight of Andrea, still crouched over Amy’s corpse, idly petting her sister’s hair with blood covered hands. She hadn’t moved all night, hadn’t spoken a word or made a sound, even as Lori spoke with her gently. 

“She won’t give her up,” Lori said softly as she returned to the sparse group of adults gathered around the firepit, “She didn’t say a thing.”

“She’s grieving,” Remus replied solemnly.

“She can’t grieve forever, that girl’s a tickin’ time bomb,” Daryl said, gesturing with his pickaxe, “Only matter of time ‘for she comes back and starts the whole shitshow over again.”

“And what do you propose we do?” Rick asked, turning steely blue eyes on Daryl.

“Shoot her, from here. Bullet in the head, hell I could put an arrow between a turkey’s eyes from this distance,” Daryl half growled, moving to grab his crossbow. Tonks narrowed her eyes and stepped forward, standing between the hunter and his weapon.

“Do that and we have a whole new ‘shitshow’ on our hands,” Tonks said, eyeing Daryl as he glared down at her, “You try and take away Andrea’s chance to say goodbye and all hell will break loose.”

“That a threat?”

“No, it’s an observation,” Tonks ground out lowly, “She just lost her sister, give her a chance to say goodbye the way she wants to.”

Daryl seemed to consider her for several more seconds, then relented and trudged away to help Glenn lift the shrouded bodies into the back of his truck. Tonks turned her attention to the kids; Harry, Ron, and Ginny were busy helping to carefully wrap the dead, letting Glenn and Daryl take the bodies after they were done. Hermione and Luna were huddled over something--a map or book perhaps--muttering away, or at least Hermione was. Luna appeared to be somewhere between reality and her own world, a slightly tremor in her hands. Neville sat silent on a stump, wand gripped in pale hands as he gazed blankly into the woods. With a frown, Tonks started towards the young wizard, concern blanketing her mind.

“Jim’s bit, he’s been bit.”

Every eye turned towards Jim all at once. The man stood in the center of the clearing, sweaty and bloodied from his work, shifting from foot to foot as Jacqui stumbled back from him. Rick, Shane, and T-Dog rushed forward, ignoring Jim’s feeble “I’m fines” to pin his arms and pull up his shirt. A single, clear, bloody red mark marred his skin, partway up his torso. 

“I’m fine, I’m fine…” Jim mumbled, even as T-Dog released his arms and backed away. 

The group circled Jim carefully, Carol pulling both Carl and Sophia further back from the risk. Rick rested his hand on his gun, Sirius gripping his wand loosely a few feet away. Shane ran a hand over his face, spun in a circle as if looking for an easy answer, then turned to Rick. The pair stared at each other, before apparently coming to a conclusion as Shane started towards Sirius.

“You can heal him, you can fix this. Can’t ya?” Shane asked desperately, catching Sirius’ attention, “You’re magic, you can fix this. Right?”

“It’s not that simple,” Sirius replied, sidestepping Shane to look at Jim once more, “Even if we were healers, even if any of us had the medical knowledge to fix this, it’s out of our hands. Magic can only take us so far.”

“You said magic was nearly endless,” Shane replied, his voice shaking with anger, “You said that. Don’t tell me you lied now.”

“He’s not lying,” Tonks replied, striding forward quickly to place herself between the two men before punches started flying, “Magic has great possibilities, but when it comes to illness things are different. The rules aren’t ones we make, we can’t just fix everything with a wave of our wand. Whatever this is--” Tonks gestured to Jim, and the rotting corpses being consumed by fire, “--is of origins beyond our control. We can’t solve this problem with magic.”

Shane paced angrily again, eyes flicking between Jim--who was being coaxed into the shade by Lori--and the mages. Tonks saw Harry and Ginny shift closer to the group, eyeing Shane distrustfully. Right, Umbridge had ruined the whole “trust the adults in authority” thing pretty thoroughly. 

“So what. You just, you just wave your little sticks and fix everything nice and easy for yourselves, and leave everyone else to rot? Is that it?” Shane growled, poking a finger at Sirius, “You tell me magic is limitless, then tell me there’s limits. Why the hell can’t you fix this? Just fucking say a spell and fix it.”

“It’s not that easy,” Remus put in, a look of pain on his face, “Trust me, if it were we would not be in this situation. Magic is not a fix all, I wish it were.”

“I don’t believe you,” Shane whirled on Remus now, ignoring Rick’s warnings, “You conjure up that firestorm and now you can’t even heal Jim’s bite? It’s a person’s life we’re talkin’ bout here! Do something!”

“ _ If I could I would! _ ” Remus looked almost as startled as everyone else when he shouted back, but the pain behind his eyes pushed the surprise away as quick as it came. “If I could, I would. You don’t have to tell me what it is like to be in this impossible situation. If I had a cure I wouldn’t hesitate to use it. But I don’t, and no one here does.”

Remus seemed on the verge of cracking now, a look of anger on his face and the faintest of tremors in his hands. Sirius stepped forward, grabbing his friend’s shoulder and guiding him away with mumbled words of comfort and a glare shot towards Shane. The ex-cop had the decency to look mildly admonished, but fear and worry still dominated his face.

“So what now?” Glenn asked, looking between Rick and Shane, “What do we do?”

“The CDC,” Rick says after a long moment of silence, “If there’s anywhere left that’s got a fix for this, it’s gotta be there dontcha think? The government would protect that place at all costs, it could still be running.”

“No way, if there’s anywhere that still has things going it would be the military base, Fort Benning,” Shane replied, looking more stable now.

“That’s a hundred miles in the opposite direction,” Lori said as she rejoined the group.

“We need the closest solution,” Tonks put in, glancing at Jim, “I’m not sure how long he can hold out like this.”

“The CDC is our chance, Jim’s only chance,” Rick said, looking at Shane almost pleadingly.

“You guys go lookin’ for aspirin, do whatcha need to do,” Daryl began, turning towards Jim with the pickaxe tight in his grip, “Someone round here gotta have the ba--argh!”

Tonks stepped forward before she had the chance to think, twirling her wand and casting an old favorite of hers: leg-locking curse. Daryl’s legs snapped together, sending him tumbling ungracefully to the ground, the pickaxe spinning from his grasp. Cursing, the hunter shoved himself onto his elbows and growled over his shoulder.

“What the hell was that?!”

“Leg-locking curse,” Tonks said, flicking her wand to send the pickaxe flying away as Daryl lunged for it, “I won’t let you kill a man while he still has a chance to live!”

“Fuck you,” Daryl growled, rolling onto his back to lunge clumsily towards Tonks, who stepped back neatly. “Let me go!”

“Not until you promise to leave Jim alone,” Tonks said firmly. Idly, she saw the looks on the other Muggles faces, some scared, some horrified, but some amused as well. Ginny, Ron, and Harry were trying to muffle their own giggles, while Hermione and Neville looked torn between sympathy and amusement.

Rick and Shane hurried towards the argument, the latter stepping between Daryl and Jim while Rick kneeled down to speak to Daryl, who glared at him angrily.

“We’re with Tonks on this one Daryl,” Rick drawled, holding the hunter’s gaze, “We don’t kill the living.”

The two glared at each other for several long moments, until Daryl dropped his gaze and relaxed slightly. Tonks mumbled the counter-curse, allowing Daryl to scramble to his feet, dignity tarnished. He sent what was quickly becoming his signature glare towards Tonks, glanced at Shane and Jim, then stomped away. Letting out a sigh of relief, Tonks stowed her wand and stepped towards Rick.

“Sorry for cursing your friend,” Tonks said immediately, cutting off whatever Rick was about to say, “I couldn’t let him kill Jim though.”

“Ain’t a problem,” Rick replied after a moment, “Not right now at least. I woulda done the same.”

Tonks offered both cops a nod and polite smile, a trace of pity sweeping onto her face as she looked at Jim before turning to leave. Before she had the chance to make it more than a few steps, there was a quiet voice.

“Amy?”

All eyes shifted to the figure huddled beneath the RV’s awning. Andrea was still crouched over her sister’s bloodied form, but Tonks could make out movement now. Pale hands twitched and shuddered, eyes opening to reveal milky white pupils. A tiny groan slipped from Amy’s lips, one hand slowly reaching up towards Andrea’s face. 

“Amy… Amy I’m sorry.” Tonks couldn’t see Andrea’s face, but could imagine the pain written on it. “I’m sorry… for not ever being there. I always thought there would be more time.”

Amy’s hand fisted in Andrea’s hair, and the other survivors started. Remus held up one hand to keep them back, even as he pulled his own wand out. With a stronger groan, Amy sat up, faintly snarling as she tried to reach Andrea; her sister, her food. Andrea held Amy’s face loosely, tears falling freely now as she watched her sister struggle to get to her.

“I’m here now Amy… I’m here.”

Andrea reached down, one hand keeping Amy at bay as she leaned close, resting her forehead on Amy’s for a moment.

“I love you.”

_ BANG! _

Amy lay still once more, and silence ruled the survivors again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for your continued support and patience! I hope you enjoyed this chapter and expect another one in about 2 weeks! 
> 
> A side note: I got tired of typing witches and wizards all the time so I'm collectively referring to the group as mages, even if that's not a typical HP term.


	5. Death and Beyond

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With Jim bit, the group pulls themselves together enough to leave the Quarry. Hope lies in the CDC, but time is running out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey all! This chapter was supposed to be up last week, but frankly I had possibly the worst week and just. Was Not up to writing. So, a week later than planned, but it's here! A little shorter but it felt like a good stopping point for the story. Enjoy~

Death was not unfamiliar to Luna.

She first encountered it at age nine, which felt both incredibly long ago and just yesterday at the same time. Her mother always was a curious spirit, a fact that led her down the path of magical experimentation, a path only ended in death for Pandora Lovegood. Luna was there when it happened, had watched her mother wither and die before her, screams torn from her throat. It took weeks for Luna to be able to hold her wand and cast an enchantment stronger than  _ lumos _ . By the time she arrived at Hogwarts, her mother’s death was a memory that weighed heavy on her heart from time to time, and opened her eyes to the world unseen. She befriended thestrals, searched for the meddlesome Wrackspurts, cared little for appearances and much for her few friends. She was Loony Luna, the girl who believed in what others would not, and that suited her just fine.

Still, this new world filled with death and undeath? It was disconcerting, even to Luna. They had been unceremoniously thrown into this alternate reality barely a day ago, and already things had gone terribly, irreversibly wrong. 10 corpses were wrapped in white shrouds and hauled to the top of the hill, buried with little ceremony and as much care as the survivors could manage. They had greviously broken the Writ of Secrecy--not that the Ministry would be around to find out--and were stranded. Though the other witches and wizards may not be convinced yet, Luna knew they were not in their world anymore, perhaps not even in an adjacent one. They were alone, surrounded by wary Muggle survivors and restless dead. It was not ideal.

As the others packed their bags and belongings in their vehicles--Hermione was leading the charge on properly shrinking and sealing useful items into their less overstuffed van--Luna watched. At first, she was perched on a stump, wand pushed through her messy bun as she kept watch on the forest. She scouted the treeline for both Inferi and Nargles, not quite trusting the meddlesome creatures to stay away in desperate times. As people were getting closer to being ready to go, Luna went to stand beside Ginny and Neville, watching the three adults of the mages discuss the plan huddled over a map. 

“It would be most direct if we took this path,” Sirius said, drawing a line over the paper with his wand.

“I don’t think we have the time to enchant all the vehicles to fly, Sirius,” Professor Lupin replied calmly, a bit of exasperation in his voice.

“Well, it  _ would _ be most direct if we could fly,” Sirius grumbled, shooting an annoyed glance at Tonks as she snickered at his defeat, “Fine, we take this road here--”

“You mean the one Rick and Shane suggested in the first place.”

“Oh, shut up Remus,” Sirius growled once more.

Luna tuned the conversation out at that point, turning her gaze to the sky to watch the clouds for a little while. Arial divination was not her specialty, but her time under Professor Firenze had taught her enough to pick out a few discernable shapes. Omens of death were of little use right now, and one spoke of a great storm. Most interesting was the sign of a flower, often used to depict birth or life, or sometimes healing. How fascinating…

Luna’s eyes traveled back to the world of the living soon after that sight, and she found herself following the jagged, unsteady movement of Jim across the clearing, leaning almost entirely on Jaquie. His skin was covered in a layer of sweat and paling by the moment, his eyes watering with pain with every step he took. He stumbled into the doorway of the RV, then staggered up the steps and disappeared from sight. Pale wisps of blonde hair floated across Luna’s mind as she stood, turning to her ex-Professor with a steady heart.

“Professor Lupin, I’d like to ride in the RV with Jim for this trip,” Luna stated firmly. The werewolf turned and looked up, his brow furrowing in confusion as he looked between Luna and the RV, as if he were trying to figure out some extremely difficult puzzle. Or perhaps the Wrackspurts had found their way into his brain.

“I don’t see why that would be a problem,” Professor Lupin began slowly, just as Sirius said “I should think not!” in a furious half whisper. The two froze, then turned to stare at each other in stunned silence, their faces a mix of confusion and frustration.

“We shouldn’t be leaving our kids alone with people who still don’t trust us,” Sirius said, gesturing vaguely to the admittedly wary Muggles finishing preparations.

“That was not my suggestion, Sirius,” Professor Lupin replied calmly, “I am not the best driver in the first place, so I will ride along with Miss Lovegood while you drive the rest of the students. It will make the ride a little more comfortable to be spread out a bit.”

There was silence as Sirius considered the argument, then nodded and relaxed slightly.

“So long as you keep an eye on things, I think we are in agreement,” Sirius said, a note of trust in his voice.

“Then that’s settled,” Professor Lupin replied with a smile, “I will ride with Luna and Jim, you and Tonks should take the rest of the kids.”

“We should divide the stuff up,” Tonks said, and Luna tuned the conversation out once more. 

The rest of packing up camp went by fairly quickly. The wizarding van was reshuffled, allowing all passengers to sit in proper seats without suffocating under boxes of supplies. Sirius and Tonks went around to cast a relatively weak silencing spell on all of the vehicles--they were pressed for time and could not manage the more fine-tuned spells their own had--while Professor Lupin conjured radios for everyone in the caravan. The Morales spoke of their diverging paths and tearful goodbyes were said, and then everyone was packed into cars. Luna waved cheerily to the other mages-in-training as she climbed into the RV, Professor Lupin following a step behind. And then they were off.

…

Being on this end of death was strange for Luna.

Her mother’s death was gruesome and tragic, but it was quick. As much as the screams of pain haunt her dreams even now, she knew with certainty there was nothing she could do. There was no  _ time _ to do anything. It was a small and strange comfort.

With Jim there was no such comfort. They had time, they had so much of it it seemed. Jim was bit the night before, nearly twelve hours ago, and he was still alive. His skin was glossy with sweat, his breathing alternating between shallow gasps and frantic ones, his skin almost as pale as bone. His eyes shifted in and out of focus, increasingly feverish ramblings spilling from his lips without thought. Jim was alive in a sense, and he would still be alive in the next half hour, but there was still  _ nothing she could do _ . There was  _ nothing _ .

It hurt.

With nearly a half hour of driving behind them, Professor Lupin had drifted off to sleep, which was not entirely unusual. Jacquie was still awake, tending to Jim in near silence, occasionally murmuring soft words of comfort to the dying man. Luna sat on the floor at the foot of Jim’s makeshift bed, carefully weaving golden strands of thin metal together in mindless patterns.

“They ate them,” Jim was muttering to himself, and for a moment Luna thought he was speaking of his family, “They ate the stars.”

Jacquie was silent, probably confused and undoubtedly concerned by the confusing statement. Luna smiled, but didn’t look up from her shapeless work.

“The stars… the stars… we need them, Jac,” Jim gasped, one hand flying towards his wound as the RV hit a pothole. Jacquie whispered soft apologies as she tried to steady him, wiping the sweat from his face.

“The stars will return,” Luna said with certainty as she stood, bracing herself on the table barely a foot from her, “Entricks never take things for long.” 

A half truth--Entricks had never been sighted in American, nor in taking the stars, but they did always return the items they absconded with. She did not mention the former fact.

Pocketing her craft, Luna withdrew her wand and pointed to the dwindling cup of cool water, casting  _ Aguamenti  _ with a quiet murmur and familiar motion. Then, with a little less ease, Luna waved her wand about the space, intoning the spell her mother invented so long ago, one she practiced if only to remember what she looked like. The RV hummed, then fell quiet, the rattling beneath their feet softening to a tiny tremor on odd intervals. Smiling slightly to herself, Luna moved to sit on the edge of Jim’s bed, wand tucked behind her ear as she looked at the dying man.

“Entricks are nasty things, but they don’t keep what they take. Somehow they always return what they stole,” Luna informed Jim, who looked oddly comforted by her words--more so than many of her friends did when she told them similar facts.

“They’ll put the stars back… they will…” Jim murmured, turning his gaze to the window, “And then… then I’ll find them.”

“The Entricks? I’d be impressed, they can create illusions of themselves in different places.”

“No… My family. I’ll find my family,” Jim sounded so at peace in that moment, as if the thought was happiness incarnate.

“Jim… Jim, sweetie,” Jacquie murmured, her voice catching as she leaned to clean Jim’s brow once more, tears threatening to spill down her cheeks. There was a story here, one Luna was not privy to. She slipped off the bed, returning to her spot on the floor, resuming work on the golden wires she wove. 

From his spot on the moth bitten chair, Professor Lupin watched her through slitted eyes, mind churning.

…

Far sooner than Luna expected, the trip ended. The RV rolled to a halt, an angry grinding sound reaching their ears even as Luna’s charm kept the motion dulled. Pocketing her mostly complete craft, Luna rose, gently shaking Professor Lupin awake and followed the annoyed rumbles of Dale out the door. The rest of the caravan had parked, and the leaders of the group were gathered in a loose circle around the RV. Smoke rose in gentle wafts from the front panel. Luna wasn’t informed about Muggle vehicles, but judging by Hermione’s and Harry’s twin looks of frustration and fear, it wasn’t supposed to be smoking.

“I told you it wasn’t going to last,” Dale said, waving his arms in annoyance as he pried open the front panel, “We needed that radiator tube from the truck!”

“If we had a choice we would have gotten it to you,” Rick drawled, “Can you jerry rig it? Duct Tape?”

“That’s what it’s been! And I’m all out of duct tape.”

“Maybe I can help,” Sirius offered, stepping around Tonks, “I’m good with cars, I’m sure I can figure something out.”

“What makes you think this is a problem magic can solve?” Shane’s voice was for once not filled with absolute malice for Sirius, but rather curiosity and weariness.

“I’ve worked on cars before, unless something has truly gone wrong here there will be a fix for it,” Sirius said firmly, though Shane looked doubtful.

“Sirius is the best with any sort of vehicle out of all of us,” Professor Lupin confirmed from just behind Luna, “He built himself a flying motorcycle years ago, last I knew it still works.”

“Of course it still works! I make things to last,” Sirius seemed mildly offended at the implication as he moved to look at the inner workings of the car. Professor Lupin huffed and smiled, thoroughly used to his friend’s quirks.

“I’ll speak to Jim,” Rick said, glancing at Shane with a tiny, near imperceptible nod.

With Sirius occupied by fixing the RV (“If you had told me we needed a new part we could have avoided this in the first place!”), Luna went over to the rest of the mages. It was a fairly quiet group, Harry and Hermione were still perched in the van, peering out the open door where Ron stood like a bodyguard. Neville had exited and was crouched on the side of the road, examining a plant with great interest while Ginny kept watch on the forest. Tonks had left to cast more thorough silencing charms over the rest of the caravan, particularly on Daryl’s truck that had a rumble like a dragon.

“Do you think he’ll be okay?” Hermione asked nervously as Luna approached.

“He’s dying,” Luna replied, a mix of solemness and her usual mysticness in her voice as she pulled the golden wire craft from her pocket once more, “He knows it. I wish there was something we could do.”

The Golden Trio looked between each other, evidently trying to come up with  _ some _ solution only to fall short. Even Ginny, who always strove to have a plan of action, stayed silent, eyes trained on the forest. There was no fixing this, they knew that now. The Muggles didn’t, but they would learn.

After a minute or so of the group standing in silence, Rick reemerged from the RV sporting what was quickly becoming his ‘we have trouble’ look--pinched brow, slight frown, eyes squinted in thought. He motioned to the adults, even pulling Sirius from his work on the RV to talk.

“Jim says he’s done.” Rick’s factual statement was met with a mixture of reactions: stunned silence from the more hopeful members, sorrowful understanding from the jaded, and Daryl seemed a mix of uncertain, understanding, and apologetic.

“He says… he says he can’t keep on like this,” Rick continued hesitantly, “He… he wants us to leave him behind.”

“We can’t do that,” Shane interjected immediately.

“I don’t think it’s your choice to make,” Lori bit off swiftly, glaring at both Shane and Rick, “It’s not your life to keep or throw away.”

There was a heavy beat of silence, then Dale spoke; “I never thought I’d say it… but maybe Daryl was right. No, hear me out,” Dale raised his hands as the protests instantly sprung to life, “I’m not saying we kill Jim, I’d never say that. You misunderstood me back at camp when I agreed with Daryl… I wasn’t saying we should, should  _ kill _ him. I was trying to say we should ask Jim what  _ he _ wants. Like Lori said, it’s his life.”

“If that’s what he wants, we should allow him this last grace,” Sirius spoke up this time, catching looks of surprise from nearly everyone, excluding Professor Lupin. “His family is gone, his life is gone. Without that, how is he to find hope in this world? It’s as if… all the happiness has left when they did. Finding that again is the most difficult thing in the world.”

From behind her, Luna heard a small intake of breath, then a quiet ‘Oh, Harry’ from Hermione. Luna had nearly forgotten Sirius’ time in Azkaban, his best friend believing him a traitor and his godson believing him a danger. Sirius was lucky, he got them back.

“He will see them again,” Luna piped up suddenly, causing all the adults to startle and look at her, “His family. He will.”

Rick stared at her strangely, and Luna stared back, a tiny smile finding its way onto her face. Whatever the former-cop saw in her seemed to solidify his decision, and Rick turned to look at the other adults. It was not a complete consensus, but it was enough to bring about action. Rick and Shane went back into the RV, and everyone steeled themselves for a goodbye.

Several long minutes later, Jim was lifted up the hill by a stretcher, conjured by Professor Lupin and raised with utmost care. Settled underneath a shaded tree, far enough from the road to avoid most troubles, Jim looked… content. He was the most lucid Luna had seen him be on this trip, eyes clear though ringed with exhaustion, sweat soaked skin pale and limbs shaking. He was not okay, but he was certain and that was enough. 

“Hey,” Jim breathed, gazing up at the canopy above him, “Another damn tree.”

Shane is the first to approach Jim, a look of doubt on his face as he kneeled before his friend. “You know it don’t need to be this.”

“No, no I want this,” Jim said breathily, “The breeze feels nice...”

Shane didn’t look convinced, but he leaned forward to touch his shoulder as gently as he could, then stepped back to let Jacquie forward. Luna couldn’t quite hear what happened, but she saw the soft smile on the older woman’s face, and the gentle one Jim managed to return before Jacquie leaned forward to place a gentle kiss on his cheek. Then Rick stepped forward, pulling something from his waistband as he knelt beside Jim.

“Jim… Do you want this?” Luna could barely see the flash of black metal in Rick’s hand.

“No,” Jim breathed, looking Rick straight in the eye, “You’ll need it… I’m okay.” He said it with such certainty.

Dale stepped forward, leaning to kneel somewhat painfully at Jim’s feet.

“Thanks for uh… for fighting for us,” Dale said, looking truly grateful, a smile on his face even as his eyes filled with tears.

“M’ okay.”

No more words were exchanged, grief too heavy in their hearts. Glenn stopped and looked at Jim for a long moment, then ambled down the hill with the rest of the group, eyes glistening. Daryl’s gaze flickered between Jim and the ground, and he eventually offered a small nod before following Glenn. Only Luna remained now, alone with Jim. She carefully climbed up the last few steps to Jim’s side and kneeled by him as the others did, withdrawing her golden wire as she did.

“You’ll see them again,” Luna murmured softly, lifting Jim’s right arm to clasp the wire around it. Then, with a smile, Luna stood and returned to the group, nodding to Professor Lupin where he stood by the RV door, watching her with… understanding.

The drive resumed in somber silence, no longer filled with hope of a chance. There was only grim determination to survive. 

On the hillside, Jim was silent too, but not with sorrow. The cool breeze graced his feverish skin, lifting some of the haze from his mind as he waited for death. Silently, he gazed at the golden wristband he now wore, delicate wires woven into the endless looping pattern of a celtic knot.

He was okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am not used to writing from Luna's perspective, not sure how well I pulled it off but I tried my best. Comments and kudos are always appreciated! Next chapter in about 2 weeks, we will tackle the CDC then :)


	6. Last Hope

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Having lost Jim, the survivors continue to the CDC, still hoping for safety. Arrival is certain, but is safety?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look at me, actually getting a chapter out on time! I've decided I'm not going to try and stick to one particular chapter length, but rather go with how the plot naturally divides up. That being said, this one is a bit longer than the last, enjoy!

The survivors managed to arrive at the CDC just before sundown, the chance at safety looming ahead in a quite literal manner. The building itself was larger and towering, made of sturdy concrete and thick glass windows. Though the roof was littered with debris, the structure was largely untouched and looked inhabitable. It cast a long shadow over the ground as the sun set, which would have been a pleasant sight if not for the carnage laid out before them.

A battle had clearly gone down between living and dead here, and since there was no party of soldiers to welcome them in, Sirius assumed the dead had won. A labyrinth of sandbag walls broke up the area, many of which had tipped over. Piles of broken boxes and old supplies covered in green cloth littered the battleground, all greying with sun and age. The concrete spoke of more horrors, stained a ghastly blackish-red from long dried blood spills.

Most disturbing was the corpses. They lay in the shadow of the CDC, paper dolls tossed aside in death, their clothes frayed as they hung off gaunt, decomposing forms. Flies and buzzards flittered between fallen soldier and Inferi, picking at half-baked flesh as if it were a feast. For every corpse dressed in faded green military uniforms, there were three or four civilians, clothes in jeans and sweatshirts, polos and dresses. None stirred as the convoy of vehicles rode up.

“_ We’ll make a break for the doors,” _ Rick’s voice crackled to life through the radio Tonks had mounted on the dash, “ _ Grab your gear. If we make it there, we ain’t gonna have time to run back and get our stuff before sundown. Walkers will be more active at night.” _

Fair enough. Grabbing his wand from the cup holder, Sirius exited the car with a glance at his companions, pulling the bag Tonks threw his way over his shoulder. As everyone unloaded, Sirius searched for Luna and Remus, finding them exiting the RV behind Dale and Jacqui. Catching his best friend’s gaze, Sirius waved them over, passing them both a bag of supplies Hermione and Tonks had enchanted to be featherlight during the drive.

“Everything alright on your end?” Sirius murmured to Remus, catching the drawn look on his face. It was a familiar look, one Remus often wore during school when the full moon was approaching, or a particularly difficult exam was putting the pressure on. 

“Fine,” Remus assured him with a smile that barely brushed his eyes, “I worry for Miss Lovegood though, she and Jim… they had a few moments on the ride, and now that things have gone the way they have…”

“I’ll keep an eye on her as well,” Sirius said, clapping Remus lightly on the shoulder, “Now I believe Rick’s ready to get moving.”

The group drew together, the children shepherded forward by worried mothers while the best of the fighters formed a long oval around them. Rick took point, followed by Daryl, Shane, Glenn, and T-Dog in a loose triangular formation. Sirius and Remus, lacking the knowledge of how to properly shoot a gun, flanked Lori, Carol, and the kids, trailed by Andrea, Dale, Jacqui, and Tonks at the rear after a final few protective enchantments on the area. The mages all kept their wands stowed, unsure if there were other Muggles in the area that could pose a threat.

Whispers of “_ stay close _ ” and “ _ keep down _ ” flittered across the group as they half ran towards the building, choking on air permeated with the scent of decay and death. Neville wretched and nearly lost his meager breakfast as he stepped _ into _ a corpse, blackened blood and putrid guts coating his foot as he stumbled forward with a yelp. Ginny pulled him free, and Hermione cast a quick, quiet charm to clear his foot of guts before stuffing her wand back into her jacket.

“Walker!” The hissed stage-whisper drew Sirius’ gaze to the left, but before he could act an arrow flew and hit the rising Inferi with a solid _ thunk _. Daryl lowered his crossbow and continued to run, discarding the arrow without a thought. Sirius flicked his wand out and summoned the projectile to him with a near silent murmur--his months on the run had taught him the importance even a single item could have. Tucking both arrow and wand into his sleeve, Sirius leapt over a fallen corpse and hurried up to the large metal doors the group was approaching, ignoring Remus’ chastising stare.

Rick and Shane reached it first, trying and failing to pull it open. With a curse, Rick rattled the door one last time and turned to look at the group.

“What do we do now?” Sophia whined, fear clear in her eyes. Carol tried to hush her, but her voice shook as well, and judging by the way Carl was clinging to Lori the fear was quickly spreading. 

“There’s nobody here,” T-Dog said angrily.

“Then why are these shutters down,” Rick paced the doors as if they would show him the answer.

“You led us into a death trap,” Daryl growled, moving towards Rick with menace in his eyes before being intercepted by Shane.

“Shut up, shut up! You hear me?” Shane pushed Daryl back, blocking the angry ‘redneck’ from charging Rick before circling towards Rick himself. “I told you this was a pipe dream,” Shane hissed as he moved to establish a perimeter with T-Dog and Daryl.

“It was our only choice,” Rick replied, a note of desperation in his voice. Glancing between the door and the fading daylight, Rick turned to Remus, “Can you do anythin’? Yer magic?” The last words were said in a near whisper.

“Yes, but only if we know there isn’t anyone in there,” Remus replied, “Not all Muggles are as receptive as you are, and I would rather not risk it until it is a dire situation.”

“We _ have _ to get in there,” Rick hissed, “This _ is _ dire.”

“We still have other chances,” Remus replied calmly, waving his hand to the largely lifeless landscape behind them, “If we leave now, we can make it back to the convoy before the Inferi wake and come for us.” 

“If we leave now, we are losing our best chance,” Sirius growled out, moving to pull his wand from his sleeve, “We can deal with the consequences later, we need to get inside now!”

“Sirius don’t,” Remus hissed, grabbing his arm before he could withdraw his wand, “We _ cannot _ give ourselves away like this.”

“We don’t even know if anyone is inside!”

“We can’t take the chance, we have other places we can go for the night. Let us regroup first.”

“Walkers!” Sirius turned as he heard the call again, gaze locking on the Inferi slowly rising and stumbling towards the group. Daryl shot the closest one down with an arrow again, allowing Shane and T-Dog to take post.

“Hold your fire!” Tonks whispered, “If we fire here, the sound will call every one for miles, we can’t risk that.”

“We’ve got to go,” Shane said firmly, “Now.”

Tonks withdrew a knife from her pack, gripping it clumsily as she herded the children back towards the center of the group, towards some modicum of safety in numbers. Rick paced in front of the door, glancing between it and the group several times as Shane tried to pull him back. Sirius wriggled from Remus’ grasp, ignoring his sigh of annoyance as he went to tug fruitlessly at the door once more.

“It moved,” Rick said desperately, pointing towards a small white device above the door, “The camera, it moved. Someone’s in there.”

“Trick of the light,” Shane replied, still trying to pull Rick along even as he shook him off, “Rick we have to _ go. _”

There was a scream from one of the youngest kids, and Sirius turned his attention back to them. All of the mages were a mix of determined and scared, standing in a loose half-circle around Carl and Sophia. Their wands were still stowed, but they held themselves at the ready, Ginny wielding a pipe like a club. Harry caught Sirius' eyes, a frantic glimmer calming as Sirius smiled gently at him. When Harry smiled back, he looked _ so much _ like James, it _ hurt _ . He couldn’t let them die out here. It was a _ door _ for Merlin’s sake! He had escaped Azkaban with no wand, this wasn’t an issue. 

“I know you’re in there! I know you can hear me!” Sirius turned back towards where Rick was screaming at the door, Shane and Lori trying to pull him away. “We’re desperate. We’ve got women, children, no food, hardly any gas, _ please. _”

Remus joined the fray now, tugging at Rick’s arm with a quiet plea. Night was falling quickly now, and the rest of the group were hovering among the labyrinth of sandbags. Sirius stepped forward, slipping his wand into his hand even as Remus shot him a furious look.

“You’re killing us! _ You’re killing us! _ ” It was the plea of a desperate man, a final cry even as Rick was finally pulled from the door. Bypassing the frantic Muggles, Sirius began to lift his wand towards the door, only for it to let out a loud _ BEEP _ and shutter, lifting upwards with far too much noise. Ah, damn.

Shielding his eyes from the bright light, Sirius stuffed his wand back into his sleeve with haste, hoping there wasn’t a sharp-eyed Muggle just inside. There were still cries of fear around them, but Sirius would be damned if they just stood there in awe as a potential safe haven stood before them.

“Let’s go! Now!” Sirius motioned the group closer, grabbing Harry’s arm rougher than he intended as he pulled them inside, “Quickly, everyone inside now.”

Inside was still almost blazingly hot but free from the stench of death and decay. There were no bodies here, nothing but smooth granite ground and a few chairs and tables, dusty but undamaged. They entered weapons up, glancing nervously around corners as they did so.

“Close those doors, watch for walkers,” Dale instructed, keeping his rifle up until the doors were truly closed and it was safe.

Silence reigned over the group, even Carl and Sophia staying quiet despite the fear shaking their frames. The sound of a gun cocking drew all their attention, and Sirius whirled to find the source of the noise as the Muggles raised their weapons.

An older man was standing in the shadows, dressed in a musty white shirt and grey pants. He held a gun up, something larger than the rifles and shotguns Rick’s group held but foreign to Sirius. His face was lined with age and stress, hair a dirty blonde that would surely be silver in the light. After a moment of silence, the man called out in a clear, slightly concerned voice.

“Anybody infected?”

“One of our group was,” Rick began, never dropping his gun from the stranger’s form, “He didn’t make it.”

“Why are you here? What do you want?” The man spoke rapid-fire questions as he stepped further into the light, still eyeing them suspiciously.

“A chance.” Rick’s reply was shaky in tone but firm in spirit.

“That’s asking an awful lot these days.”

“I know,” Rick said with a small nod. The stranger’s eyes coasted over the group, taking in them all. Carl and Sophia clung to their mothers, Dale and Jacqui shared looks of fear and concern. Shane, Daryl, T-Dog, and Tonks stood firm, defenses up as Rick tried to negotiate their entry. Neville still looked petrified and shaking, half hiding behind Harry and Ginny, who stood shoulder to shoulder in defiance. 

“You all submit to a blood test, that’s the price of entry,” The stranger said at last.

“We can do that,” Rick replied, and then the stranger lowered his gun.

“You got stuff to bring in, you do it now, once this door closes it stays closed,” The stranger spoke quickly, moving forward as the group split off. 

“Nothing to bring in,” Rick said, “Nothing much left.”

The stranger nodded, walking forward to speak into a panel of buttons, causing the doors to fall shut once more. 

“Rick Grimes,” Rick said, offering his hand to the stranger, who hesitated for a scarce moment before taking it.

“Dr. Edwin Jenner.”

…

A cramped elevator ride and tense hour of blood testing later, the entire group of survivors were welcomed into the underground laboratory. Walking through the relatively crowded hallway, Sirius was blessed with cool air untainted by decay. Remus huffed out a laugh at the various excited reactions to such an amenity, granting Sirius a soft smile as they followed Jenner. Those were rarer nowadays, between the second wizarding war on the rise and their current predicament the werewolf had little to smile about. 

“Vi, bring up the lights in the big room,” Jenner called out as he exited the halls, stepping onto a gently sloping walkway. As the lights flicked on, the group got their first real look at a new possible home.

It was indeed a ‘big room’, not as large or grand as the Great Hall had ever been but impressive nonetheless. A circular platform was set a few steps up from the rest of the room, which had a vaguely semicircular pattern of white workstations on it. The lights were hung above in a perfect circle, illuminating the ground below in clinical whiteness that set Sirius on edge. Jenner paused for a moment, looking thoughtful for a moment.

“Welcome to Zone Five,” Jenner said as he resumed his pace, walking towards the work stations with the survivors trailing behind. Sirius heard murmured gasps of excitement from the students (“It’s magic ‘Mione!” “No it’s not, now _ be quiet _.”) which Tonks quickly shushed.

“Where are the others?” Remus asked, casting his gaze around the empty room, “I assume there were other doctors? Staff?”

Jenner paused again, turning to face them as they grouped on the central platform, “I’m it… it’s just me here.”

A moment of silence as the group processed this--something they had been doing a lot of the past two days.

“What about the person you were speaking with?” Lori spoke up this time, still keeping Carl close. 

“Vi, say hello to our guests,” Jenner called out into the room, and Sirius half expected some ghost to float through the ceiling, “Tell them… welcome.”

A strangely off voice sounded from above, not quite living but vaguely human in origin. Sirius jumped, whirling to try and find the source of the voice only to discover it came from everywhere.

“Hello, guests. Welcome.”

“It’s a computer,” Hermione supplied, mostly for the benefit of the mages as all the Muggles seemed to grasp the concept instantly.

“Yes. I’m all that’s left,” Jenner said again, subdued, “I’m sorry.”

Jenner showed them to the kitchens next, pulling out a variety of prepackaged foods and roping in various members of the group to prepare a dinner. There was meat, salad, and overcooked vegetables, while several bottles of wine passed around and poured into generous glasses, even for the children of the group. Laughing was plentiful--particularly as Carl spit out his wine with a face of disgust--and the tension present in the group was slowly bleeding from their shoulders. 

It had been hardly two days since the mages had arrived, but already they were settling in with the survivors. Luna sat next to Jacqui, keeping up a quiet conversation about creatures even the wizarding world didn’t believe in. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny were busy passing around an old newspaper, reading the comics in amusing voices to get Sophia and Carl to laugh. Neville sat a bit awkwardly to the side but seemed content to join in at odd moments, adding his two cents to the comic readings. Tonks was delighted in talking with Glenn, whose face was becoming more and more flushed as time went on and wine went down. Sirius’ own glass had been emptied and refilled several times by the time Rick spoke up, and he was leaning heavily on Remus, who was far too patient for his own good.

“Seems to me we haven’t thanked our host properly,” Rick said as he tapped his glass and stood.

“He is more than just our host,” T-Dog said, raising his glass with the chorus of ‘here here!’ and Daryl’s loud ‘booyah!’. Sirius whooped his own thanks, earning a laugh out of Remus as he nearly dislodged himself from his seat in earnest.

“Saved our lives,” Remus offered, steadying Sirius with a gentle hand though his eyes were focused on Jenner, “I don’t think a simple ‘thank you’ will suffice, but it will have to do for now.”

Jenner simply nodded, not rising to partake in the general excitement.

“So when you gonna tell us what the hell happened here?” Shane cut through, effectively drawing most of the cheer to a close. “All the other doctors? The ones figuring out what happened. Where are they?”

“Supposed to be a celebration, innit it, Shane,” Tonks said, “We can talk about this tomorrow.”

“This is why we're here, right,” Shane replied, a look of mild frustration on his face. “We come here for answers, that’s what we’re looking for. Instead, we find him, one man. Why?”

“When things got bad, a lot of people just left,” Jenner offered, “Went off to be with their families. When things got worse, military overrun, the rest bolted.”

“Everyone?”

“No, many couldn’t face walking out the door. They… opted out. There was a rash of suicides. It was a… bad time.”

“You didn’t leave. Why?” Andrea spoke up quietly this time.

“I just kept working,” Jenner replied, his voice quieter now, “Wanted to… do some good.”

“Dude you are such a buzzkill,” Glenn’s vaguely slurred speech brought the group out of the dark just enough for conversation to blossom again. It wasn’t as cheerful as it had been, no longer filled with laughter, but it was enough to fill the dead air.

After the subdued ending of the dinner, Jenner led the survivors down yet another set of halls, the lights clicking on disconcertingly as they walked. Sirius knew it was Muggle technology when he was sober, but he was not sober now--he had lost much of his alcohol tolerance in Azkaban it seemed.

“Most of the facility is powered down, including housing so you’ll have to make do here,” Jenner said as they walked, “Couches are comfortable, but there are cots if you’d like. There’s a rec room you kids may like, just don’t plug in the video games. If you shower, go easy on the hot water.”

Sirius was leaning on Remus unabashedly now, a gleeful smile emerging on his face as the excited murmurs of “hot water?”. With a sigh, Remus shrugged one of Sirius’ arms over his shoulders and tucked his own around his waist, guiding him down the hall towards the promised showers. Sirius gathered his mind enough to undress and douse himself in cold water, turning the tap to warm only when his haze had cleared enough for him to function. 

Reaching for the shampoo, Sirius let his thoughts wander, slow and drifting as they were. It was hard to believe it had been just over two days they were stuck in this… place--Sirius was hesitant to call it an alternate world. Between the sudden danger presented from Inferi, the dramatic revelation of magic to Muggles, and the addition of new friends that were immediately torn from their grasps, it felt much longer than two days. Sirius knew his sense of time wasn’t the best--Azkaban had skewed that beyond belief, years lost to mindless misery--but still… two days. 

The children seemed to be handling the danger and horror remarkably well, keeping their heads enough to defend themselves. Then again, none of them had had it particularly easy so far, had they? Voldemort chasing Harry’s tail at every chance, invading his mind and sleep, using Sirius himself as bait for his godson… Sirius startled as the bar of soap he was trying to strangle exploded in his hand. Damn.

With a sigh, Sirius quickly rinsed his hair once more (he relished the chance to wash his hair now, being on the run for several weeks had taught him how valuable hair hygiene was) and stepped from the shower, toweling himself dry as he went. He stumbled to the pile of clean clothes folded on the bench, pulling them on with slight difficulty before making his way to what he and Remus had claimed as their room.

The room had once been an office of some sort, though was easily functional as a bedroom. Remus had shoved the desk to one side, placing their bags atop it and pulling the folding part of the couch out before making it into a bed, complete with tacky floral sheets. Remus himself was settled on the bed, legs under the covers while he propped himself up against the wall, book and what Muggles called a ‘torch’ in hand.

“Really, Remus,” Sirius drawled, flopping dramatically on the bed, “Up reading again? You’ll be late for transfiguration tomorrow, and you know how Minney gets when you’re late.”

“I know you aren’t that drunk, Sirius,” Remus replied, a smile on his lips even as his tone dripped with annoyance, “You should get some sleep though. I don’t want to hear you complaining of a hangover in the morning.”

“Me? Complain? How could you imply such a thing?”

“How could I indeed,” Remus muttered, never looking up from his book. “Go to sleep, it will do you good.”

Sirius hummed a half-hearted reply, working to tuck himself under the covers without kicking his best friend. Settled in, Sirius closed his eyes, letting the safe silence drift over him and pull him to sleep. Only, sleep did not come. Eyes flicking open, Sirius sighed deeply, rolling on his side to look up at Remus through his damp curls. The werewolf had his familiar look of concentration on his face, brows pinched over squinting eyes, lips moving in the barest traces of words.

“What are you reading?” Sirius voiced his question after watching Remus for what was probably deemed a slightly creepy amount of time.

“Moon cycles.” Sirius frowned at that, reaching up to poke Remus in the temple.

“Worried about that already? Remus--”

“I don’t have the potion here, Sirius,” Remus snapped, cutting him off in an uncharacteristic moment of annoyance, “I have to be more careful than I was before. It was one thing at the castle; there were precautions, there were teachers who could defend the students. Here? Now? We don’t have that. I need to be aware of things, particularly since… well. I’m not entirely certain that the moon cycles in the same manner ours does.”

Now it was Sirius’ turn to furrow his brow in confusion. “Why wouldn’t it?”

Sighing, Remus closed the book and set it on the desk, clicking the torch off as well after a moment of fumbling. “I have been thinking about our situation, and though I can’t really confirm or deny anything, I don’t think we are in the same world as we were. The Veil was not simply a portkey, it didn’t ship us off to some foreign land. I did some reading on the drive, and while you were showering. Muggles have always had some awareness of the wizarding world, and it’s shown up in the news several times, particularly when Voldemort was first defeated. There is no mention of that event, nor the celebrations after. The only explanation I can think of is we are not in the same world. So, moon cycles. Just in case the moon works differently here than at home.”

“And does it?”

“Work differently? No. The cycle is still the same order and length, so it is safe to assume we will just have to… to manage my transformations. As we did when I was young.” At that, Remus looked down, a trace of sorrow on his face. “I am sorry to put this all on you Sirius, but I cannot risk harming any of the students, nor anyone else. I know before there were James and Peter, but you have gotten stronger over the years. Do you--”

“I can handle it,” Sirius said, reaching to hold Remus’ hand in his, stopping it from restlessly picking at the blankets as it had been, “Do not worry. I’ll keep you safe.”

“It’s not me I worry about.”

“I’ll keep everyone safe then,” Sirius replied, squeezing Remus’ hand gently, relishing in the returned motion.

“We are nearing a full moon I believe,” Remus said after a long moment of silence, “We will have to find a good time to steal away before I turn.”

“You won’t tell the Muggles?”

“They would not welcome me,” Remus said without hesitation, “Wizarding society hardly does, why would Muggles? I am a threat when the Wolf takes over, I do not blame them for treating me as such. No, it is better to keep this hidden from them, at least for now.”

The sober part of Sirius’ brain screamed that that wasn’t the best plan, but unfortunately, the drunk part of Sirius’ brain was dead set on sleep now. His eyelids were feeling heavy, his mind working slower and slower as his energy faded. With a sigh, Sirius tugged Remus’ hand to his chest, curling in on it as if it were a teddy bear, vaguely registering the noise of confusion from Remus himself. 

As darkness slipped over him and sleep claimed him for real, Sirius could feel the motions of Remus, settling down next to him, arm entangled with his with no intentions of escape.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> @me, not wanting to try to explain how that tiny elevator would hold everyone + 9 wizards 
> 
> Thank you for reading, the next chapter should be out in about two weeks! Comments and kudos are always appreciated :)


	7. Lost Hope

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A new day dawns with the Survivors at the CDC, and questions come with it. How much does Jenner know? How much will Jenner tell them?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Posting early? Wow, what a foreign concept. The next chapter should be up in about 2 weeks, depending on my schedule. 
> 
> Also note I updated tags at last, just to make them a little more accurate to the story.

Stirring from sleep was an odd experience for Hermione. Some part of her still expected to be at Hogwarts, tucked beneath the warm sheets of her four-poster bed, Crookshanks curled on her pillow with tiny, wheezing snores. She expected to get up, have to chase the boys out of the Common Room and to the Great Hall, where they would eat breakfast while reading the Prophet’s nonsense once more. The classes would be as long and fulfilling as they always were--or useless, when it came to Umbridge’s class--and they would continue with their lives. Even with Voldemort on the rise, their lives would be relatively normal.

Instead, Hermione woke under plain grey blankets tucked on a vaguely uncomfortable cot, her clothes rumpled and hair so thoroughly tangled she doubted a mere comb would tame it. To her right was Ginny, stirring as well, while Luna was already awake and alert, sitting cross-legged on her cot reading a book by the light of her torch. Tonks’ bed on the couch was rumpled but empty, the witch likely having gone to get started on breakfast earlier.

“Goodmorning,” Hermione mumbled, sitting up properly and reaching for her bag where her wand was tucked. Glancing at the door, Hermione murmured a quick spell, detangling her hair enough for it to return to its original frizzy mess.

“Morning,” Luna’s dreamy reply came, and she lowered her book enough for Hermione to see huge glasses perched on her nose, making her resemble Professor Trelawney in some manner.

“Where’s Tonks?” Ginny slurred as she sat up, rubbing sleep from her eyes.

“She went to find Professor Lupin and Sirius,” Luna said, “She said we should come to breakfast whenever we were ready.”

At the mention of food, all three girls perked up; they had skipped out on dinner before going to the Ministry to rescue Sirius, and meals in this world were fewer, leaving them unusually hungry. Hermione got up and flicked on the lights, allowing all of them to change into clean--and borrowed--clothes before heading out into the hall. 

Arriving in the dining room, they found themselves to be relatively early to the party. Tonks was settled at the table, eating her plate of eggs as she looked over a map in front of her. Sirius was quietly working through a plate of eggs and sausage, squinting slightly at the bright lights. Professor Lupin sipped his cup of tea slowly, leafing through a book in his hands, a thoroughly marked calendar sitting next to his empty plate. T-Dog was cooking, offering up powdered eggs and dehydrated sausages to the other survivors as they entered. Glenn was in a similar state as Sirius, though Daryl seemed only mildly hungover considering he had had easily as much wine as the other men. Lori was sitting next to Carl, pointedly avoiding looking at Shane who sat across from them. The three young witches took their seats, gratefully descending on the plates of food set in front of them by T-Dog.

Breakfast was a quiet affair, the rest of the party staggering in to claim plates and seats with various levels of groans. Rick stumbled in near last, eyes still red from sleep and speech slightly slurred. He settled by his wife and son, lifting a strip of bacon to nibble on as he looked about the rather full table.

“Where’d all this come from,” Rick asked, gesturing to the food and bottle of painkillers set before him.

“Jenner,” Lori replied, graciously opening the bottle for Rick and passing him the correct dosage.

“Eggs are powdered, but I do em good,” T-Dog said, piling some on Rick’s and Glenn’s plates.

Shane ambled in with mumbled greetings, grabbing the last available seat and a plate of food from T-Dog as he went.

“What the hell happened to you?” T-Dog said as Shane brushed past him, gesturing towards his neck with the wooden spatula.

Hermione’s gaze caught on the previously unnoticed scratch marks on Shane’s neck, angry red lines that had most definitely not been there the night before. She had seen some of Professor Lupin before, always present in varying degrees of severity after his monthly transformations, but these looked smaller, obviously not done by a wolf. 

“Must’ve donnit in my sleep,” Shane replied, sipping his orange juice.

“Never known ya to do that,” Rick hummed, looking concerned.

“Me neither. Not like me at all.” Hermione got the distinct impression there was something more to this conversation, but before she could give it much thought, Jenner appeared.

“Morning, everyone sleep okay?”

“Ohyeah, juf fime,” Ron mumbled through a mouthful of food, earning a hard kick in his shins from both Hermione and Ginny.

“Thank you again, for allowing us to stay,” Professor Lupin said, setting aside his book.

“Of course,” Jenner said after a pause, moving to grab a plate of dry toast and cup of orange juice before finding a seat set aside from the group.

“Now, I don’t mean to bombard you with questions first thing in the morning,” Dale began.

“But you will anyway,” Jenner mumbled, turning to the group.

“We didn’t come here for the eggs,” Andrea said firmly.

Jenner hesitated, taking a long sip of his coffee before sighing. “What do you want to know?”

“How’d this all start?” Tonks was first to speak, her attention on the doctor.

“We don’t know,” Jenner replied instantly, “We tried to track down patient zero here in the States, but communication went dark before we could. As far as I know, the other countries couldn’t find anything more than we could. It was almost like the reanimation just… sprung into life one day.”

“I find it hard to believe there were no warning signs,” Ginny said.

“There were some, we just didn’t know what they were warning of. Reports of cadavers walking after death, limbs twitching even with the heartbeat completely stopped. Whatever this is, it spread fast. No one was sure how to stop it. I only started recording how long it’s been since the explosive spread, when this virus became a pandemic. 64 days. 31 since the electrical grid was lost.”

A little over two months since the world lost itself. How long would it stay that way? The first wizarding war was over 10 years of destruction and they were still facing consequences. Would this world be the same?

“Do you know what it is?” Lori asked the question, and this time Jenner hesitated. With a final sip of his coffee, the doctor stood and strode out of the room, motioning for them to follow. 

The half-awake survivors were led back into the large circular room. Jenner walked up to one of the work stations, pressing a few buttons to turn on a large screen before them.

“Give me a playback of TS-19,” Jenner said into the empty air.

“Playing back TS-19,” Vi’s disembodied voice responds. Hermione could see Sirius, Ron, and Ginny jump out of the corner of her eye.

Gathering around the workstations, the survivors turned their gaze to the screen. Several boxes popped up, brilliant blue scans of human brains spinning slowly on their axis. Tonks tripped over her own feet and half crashed into Rick, who gave her a concerned glance as she murmured a quicked apology. 

“Few people ever got to see this, very few,” Jenner said, turning to the group of survivors.

“Is that a brain,” Carl asked, sounding as surprised as many of them looked.

“An extraordinary one,” Jenner replied, a slight smile on his face, “Not that it matters in the end… Take us in for EIV.”

Vi’s voice responded to the command, and the screen shifted. The brain flew towards them, shifting sideways and enlarging until all the details were visible. A spiderweb of neurons now took up the entire screen, bright lights traveling across each thread.

“What’re those lights?” Shane’s voice sounded.

“It’s everything,” Jenner said, a note of aw in his voice, “It’s a person’s life, their experiences and memories. Somewhere in that organic wiring… is you. The thing that makes you human.”

“Do you ever make sense?” Sirius asked, though his gaze was fixed on the screen as everyone elses’ were.

“They’re synapses,” Jenner clarified, “They carry electrical impulses from the brain to the body. They determine everything you do from the moment of birth to the moment of death.”

“This person died?” Andrea asked, stepping forward with watery eyes. “Who?”

“Test subject 19, someone who was infected and… volunteered to have us record the process,” Jenner replied slowly, “Vi, scan to the first event.”

The screen changed again, the view shifting back out from the synapses to view the whole brain. The light had deadened, the bright core of the brain now dull and dark, like a burned-out spiderweb. There was no movement, either from the body or the lights in the brain.

“It invades the brain like meningitis,” Jenner began, motioning to the screen, “The brain goes into shut down, then the major organs. Then death. Everything… gone.”

Andrea looked away. Sophia whispered a question to Carol, who nodded solemnly and patted her daughter’s shoulder. Jenner watched Andrea with concern for a moment, then turned back to the screen.

“Scan to the second event.”

The screen shifted again, a loading bar flashing up for a few moments before disappearing, allowing a view of the brain again. From the very base of the skull, a light appeared again. It was not bright and flashing as the other’s had been, but a dull, red light. It traveled slowly through the brain, just barely brushing the center of the brain before fading out. The edges never relit.

“The time to reanimation varies greatly, we’ve heard reports anywhere between three minutes and eight hours. In the case of this patient it was two hours, one minute, seven seconds…”

“It… restarts the brain?” Lori said in confusion.

“No, just the brain stem. It gets them up and moving. Nothing more.”

“They’re not alive,” Harry clarified, gaze flicking between Jenner and the screen, “They don’t think, feel.”

“Right,” Jenner replied, “They are just… hungry. Their bare instincts are there, nothing more. They’re just a shell, driven by… mindless instinct.”

Hermione froze as the screen showed the outline of a gun pressed to the head, flinching away as it fired in silence. She felt the gentle touch of Ron and allowed herself to be pulled into a comforting hug.

“What was that?”

“He shot his patient in the head,” Andrea said, “Put them down”

“Vi, power down the big screen and work stations.” Jenner turned away from the screen, idly pacing the platform.

“You have no idea what it is, do you?” Jacqui sounded concerned, hurt even.

“It could be microbial, viral, bacterial, parasitic.” Jenner avoided their gazes as he spoke.

“Somebody must know something,” Andrea said, “Somebody, somewhere. Other facilities?”

“There may be some… people like me. But I don’t know. Communication went down with the electrical grid. This whole place is only running by back up generators,” Jenner replied.

“So there’s nothing left. Anywhere,” Andrea said what they were all thinking, and Jenner fidgeted. 

“Dr. Jenner,” Dale spoke for the first time in the whole conversation, “I know this has been taxing, but… that clock. It’s counting down. What happens at zero?”

All eyes turned to the large, bright red digital clock on the walk, the numbers ticking down second by second. As they spoke, it ticked under an hour.

“The… basement generators run out of fuel.” Jenner was hedging, and everyone knew it.

“And then? What of it?” Ginny stepped in front of Jenner, forcing him to acknowledge her. He gave her a deer-in-headlights look but said nothing.

“Vi, what happens when the power runs out?” Rick asked the air.

“Facility wide decontamination will occur.”

Silence fell over the group for a scant moment, which Jenner took as a chance to escape the room, ducking out of sight. 

“What the bloody hell does that mean?” Ron growled.

“Whatever it is, we need to make sure Jenner isn’t lying first,” Sirius said, standing up, “Why don’t you pack your things, just in case.”

Sirius and Tonks swept out of the room, followed by Rick, Glenn, T-Dog, and Shane. Lupin herded the rest of the survivors back towards living quarters, pressing everyone to pack their things. Within 15 minutes, everyone returned to the main room laden with bags, tossing them down by the workstations. Sometime in their absence, Jenner had returned, taking large swigs from a bottle of whiskey as he watched their movements with deadened eyes.

“What’s happening,” Rick asked as the group of adults hurried back up the stairs, “What’s decontamination?”’

No luck in the basement it would seem. From above them, the sound of air shut off, leaving them in tense silence as Jenner refused to acknowledge Rick. Harry stepped forward, Ron and Hermione a half pace behind him as he glared at Jenner.

“Something is going on here, and you know what it is,” Harry said, thinly veiled anger in his voice, “We have a right to know what’s going on.  _ Tell us _ .”

“The French were the last as far as I know,” Jenner said after a moment more of silence, “While our people were bolting and committing suicide, they stayed in the lab, working to the very end. They thought they were close.”

“What happened?”

“Same thing as here, ran out of juice,” Jenner motioned to the darkness around them, “The world runs on fossil fuels. How stupid is that?”

Still not an answer to their question.

“Grab your things, we are getting out of here  _ now _ ,” Rick growled to the group, fear and anger in his eyes as he turned to Jenner. Before they had a chance to move, a blaring alarm went off. Jenner moved to a workstation, pressing a few more buttons while ignoring the shouts behind him. With a mechanical whir, the doors to the stairs shut. They were locked in.

“Did you just lock us in?” Glenn asked, sounding on the edge of complete panic. Jenner said nothing, sitting at a computer and turning it on, speaking to the screen in a voice too quiet to hear.

“You son of a  _ bitch! _ ” Daryl roared, springing up the steps and towards Jenner, raising his fist in threat. Rick shouted to Shane, who moved to intercept Daryl in the nick of time. Sirius lunged forward as well, only to be stopped by Professor Lupin, who murmured something in his ear that quieted the man for the moment. Harry glanced between the three of them, eyeing Jenner and fidgeting with his wand. Hermione shook her head slightly, nodding to the door instead; Jenner was a lost cause, but a Muggle door stood no chance against magic.

“Jenner, open that door now,” Rick growled, towering over the doctor.

“That’s not something I can do. Even if I open this one everything topside is locked down, controlled by a computer. Emergency exits are sealed.” Jenner paused, looking at their faces. “I told you, once that door was shut that was it. It’s better this way.”

“What happens in 28 minutes,” Professor Lupin said, his voice startlingly calm as he gazed heavily at Jenner, standing strategically between Sirius and the doctor.

“Do you know what this place is?” Jenner spoke quietly, sounding so  _ tired _ , “We protected everyone from gruesome things. Weaponized strains of ebola and smallpox. They would kill the entire country if they got out… Even now, whatever is left living would  _ die _ . We can’t let that out.  _ We can’t _ .”

A long silence, reigned over the group, breaking when Jenner raised his head and spoke directly to Rick.

“In the event of total power loss, HITs are deployed to prevent organism escape… High impulse thermobaric explosives. They use oxygen in the air to create high-temperature explosions hot enough to kill anything.”

“They set the air on fire,” Hermione murmured in shock, hearing the cries of fear from everyone.

“No pain,” Jenner murmured, gazing just beyond where Rick was clutching his family close. “An end to sorrow, grief, regret.”

“We have 27 minutes,” Sirius spoke this time, face hard, “There is still a way out.”

Jenner made no move, no acknowledgment of Sirius’ statement, but Professor Lupin straightened.

“Everyone gather your things,” Tonks said, hurrying alongside Sirius to where the doors were, “Stay behind us.”

Hermione grabbed her pack from Ginny, turning in time to see Sirius wave his wand at the door. When the door did not move, Sirius let out a low growl of annoyance and flicked his wand again, spitting ‘ _ Bombarda _ ’ out with little grace. A loud bang pulled Jenner’s eyes to the man, but the door still stayed closed. Motioning Sirius aside, Tonks raised her own wand and vanished the door entirely, grinning at Sirius’ shout of success.

“What the hell?”

“We need to go,” Professor Lupin said firmly, hoisting his satchel more firmly onto his shoulder as he ignored Jenner’s absolute shock.

The survivors  _ bolted _ , following Sirius and Tonks down the ramp and towards the elevator. All but two, that is.

“Jacqui?” Ricked looked startled, “Andrea?” The group paused, looking at the two women.

“I’m stayin’,” Jacqui said, tears in her eyes, “I’m stayin’.”

“That’s insane,” T-Dog said, moving to take her hand even as she stepped away.

“No, no for the first time it’s sane,” Jacqui backed away, standing beside the still shocked looking Jenner, “I’m not ending up like Jim and Amy. You need to go, now. Go. Get out, just  _ get out _ .” Her voice was heavy with emotion as she pushed T-Dog back, tears in her eyes.

“I’m staying too,” Andrea said, eyes empty.

“Andrea no,” Dale cried, moving towards her with open arms. Rick paused, looking at Jenner, who motioned him closer for a moment, leaning in to whisper in his ear.

“We need to go,” Professor Lupin said.

“You lot go, I’ll stay and help,” Tonks said, twirling her wand, “I can escape with one or two passengers, but we can’t all stay.”

Dale was already halfway to Andrea as Tonks spoke. “Go, just  _ go! _ ” 

They were running out of time. Tonks flashed everyone a smile, hurrying to Dale and Andrea’s side as the other survivors turned and ran. They darted back up the stairs, torches gripped in shaking hands for a moment before Harry raised his lit wand, flicking the ball of light off to float ahead of them. At the top of the stairs, Hermione flicked her wand and unlocked the outer door, letting them all spill into the open first floor. The door was still shuttered as they had left them.

“ _ Bombarda _ ,” Ginny flicked her wand towards the large glass windows before anyone had a chance to question the next move, shattering it with a loud  _ BANG _ . 

Springing out into open air once more, the survivors darted across the carnage. It looked worse in midday light, dried blood a sickly black while Inferi corpses slowly rotting in the heat. A few Inferi still awake from the cool of the night turned towards them, but were cut down by Ron and Ginny before they had a chance to amble more than a step or two. Taking point, Hermione pointed her wand at one stumbling Inferi standing before a sandbag wall.

“ _ Everte Statum,”  _ She said clearly, and the Inferi was flung backward, knocking over the walls before being incinerated by Luna’s fire charm.

Without a second thought, the survivors wove through the carnage, leaping over sandbag walls with reckless abandon. Quickly as they could, they piled back into the vehicles, tossing their bags in haphazardly. Only when everyone was in their respective van or car did they pause, turning to gaze at the still building with tense eyes. No figure emerged from the shattered glass window, no sign even. 

“Where is she,” Harry muttered, shifting in his seat as he leaned forward, peering through the window.

“She’ll be fine, Tonks is smart,” Sirius said, though he didn’t seem quite as convinced as he might be.

“Shouldn’t she be here by now?”

As if summoned, there was a loud  _ CRACK _ and three figures appeared. Tonks, wand still half-raised with Dale and Andrea clinging to her arm. They staggered, nearly dragging the witch down with them for a moment, then regained their footing.

Tonks half dragged the Muggles along, tossing a cheeky grin towards the wizarding van as she lugged them into the RV, shutting the door behind her. Moments later, the radio crackled to life.

“ _ Drive. _ ”

So they did.

20 minutes later, the ground shook, an explosion echoing through the city of Atlanta. The CDC was no more.

…

The group took a day to regroup, gather their wits about them and try to come up with a plan. Big cities were out of the question, but there was still the chance of Fort Benning. They had to gather food and supplies to make it there, but it was possible. Practical even. Hermione and Tonks took charge of charming their vehicles, silencing engine noise and repairing windshields. Sirius spent a day working with Dale, returning the inside of the RV so they wouldn’t be stranded as they had been. Professor Lupin worked alongside Rick and Shane, taking Ginny, Harry, Ron, and Neville on a supply run in the surrounding area--they couldn’t conjure edible food, but if they found something, they could preserve it. By sunrise the next day--two days after Jacqui decided her fate--they were off.

The caravan was now only 4 long. Daryl took his motorcycle on the front, Dale taking the RV behind with Andrea, Shane, Tonks, Glenn, and T-Dog. Then it was Rick and Carol’s families, and then the rest of the mages. It was a mostly silent trip, no one much felt like talking after the days they had had.

When midday rolled around, they struck another roadblock. Literally.

“Why are we stopping?” Ron stirred from his half-sleep, peering forward.

“It better not be dementors,” Harry mumbled, barely loud enough for Hermione to hear from her spot between her two boys. 

“No, it’s a wreck,” Hermione replied, gesturing to the corner of an overturned semi just visible beyond the RV.

“Looks like Daryl is finding a way through,” Professor Lupin said.

Indeed the hunter was. He wove his motorcycle through the mess of cars, leading the RV through at an agonizingly slow pace, the other vehicles trailing behind. They passed by abandoned cars, doors left wide open when former occupants fled in panic. Some had corpses in them, grey skin stretched thin from the sun and heat. Hermione couldn’t tell if they were Inferi or not. 

Things came to a halt when they passed their fifth car, and Sirius cursed. Turning off their van, the mages piled out, wands gripped loosely as everyone converged in front of the RV. Ahead of them was another overturned semi, but instead of being shoved off the road some time ago, it lay flat in the middle. Cars were piled against the underside, crushed in what must have been the initial crash causing this block. The grass beside it was open, but the RV would never make it down that steep of a slope.

“Shit,” Shane growled, glaring at the wreck.

“Can’t bypass that easily,” Tonks replied, hair shifting to a more muted pink as she observed the situation.

“There’s still the highway bypass,” Glenn offered.

“Not enough room to turn around,” Sirius replied, “Backing the RV through that maze would end up disastrous.”

“Are we stuck?” Sophia piped up from beside Carl.

“Not quite,” Professor Lupin said as he stepped forward, “If you give us a little time, I think we can move these out of the way. We will have to be careful to avoid causing more damage and risking an explosion, but we should be able to.”

“What, are you just going to shove twenty tons of metal off the road? That’ll make a whole bunch of needless noise,” Glenn said quickly.

“We’re going to levitate it,” Sirius replied, flicking his wand at a nearby box and lifting it a few feet in the air, “It is just a matter of untangling the cars so we don’t lift one supporting another and send the whole thing crashing down.”

“We should look around, gather what we can while we can,” Shane said, motioning to the abandoned cars around them, “Food, water, clothes. Anything useful.”

Daryl was already elbow-deep in a box of supplies, pulling out packages of toothpaste and antibiotic cream. 

“This place is a graveyard,” Lori said suddenly, a look of half disgust on her face. “I don’t know how I feel about this.”

Everyone shifted uncomfortably at that. Looking around, it really was a graveyard. Bodies were piled in cars and on the street, bone dry from the sun. It was their final resting place. Still, they needed to survive…

“Gather what you can, come on everyone,” Shane broke the silence, cutting the tension enough for the group to break apart and start their search. Guilt weighed heavy in the air, but they needed supplies.

Hermione grabbed Ron and Harry’s sleeves, tugging them a few steps away to begin rooting through a car. Ginny was leading Neville and Luna away in a similar pack, allowing Tonks, Professor Lupin, and Sirius to manage the wreck.

“We need to figure out how we are going to deal with Professor Lupin’s transformations,” Hermione hissed to them as she pulled out a half-used package of batteries, which she tucked into her pack.

“We still have time for that,” Harry replied, “It’s not the full moon yet.”

“It will be, tonight if the calendar at the CDC was accurate. Honestly, haven’t you two been paying attention?”

Harry and Ron glanced at each other guiltily, avoiding Hermione’s glare.

“We don’t have the potion, nor the supplies to make it. He can’t transform around us, but we can’t exactly send a werewolf off into the forest alone and hope he stays away. Plus, I don’t know how the Wolf would interact with Inferi.”

“So what do we do?” Ron turned to Hermione, stuffing a wadded blanket into his bag as he did.

“I don’t know! We need to figure something out though,” Hermione hummed thoughtfully.

“Sirius said that back when he and Lupin were in school, he, my dad, and Pettigrew would all transform and keep the Wolf under control,” Harry put in, “Between Sirius’ and my dad’s size they could keep the Wolf from attacking. They kept him company and helped him back to the castle in the morning.”

“But it didn’t work when it was only Sirius, dinnit,” Ron countered, “The Wolf was stronger than Sirius then.”

“Sirius had just got out of Azkaban then, he was still weak and tired,” Hermione offered, “It could be possible that Sirius can keep the Wolf under control. Oh, I don’t know. We’ll have to be careful.”

“ _ Ron, Harry, Hermione, get down! _ ” The urgent hiss came from just behind them, and the three students whirled to find Sirius himself waving frantically at them. “ _ Under the car, now! _ ”

Following Sirius’ gaze, they caught sight of stumbling figures, slowly making their way through the wreckage towards them. Without another word, the three dropped to the ground and scrambled under the car, abandoning their bags in their haste. Harry hissed as Ron elbowed him, but quickly fell quiet as shuffling footsteps approached. With a final thought, Hermione levitated a couple of fallen boxes between them and the Inferi, a makeshift barrier that would have to do for now. The Inferi were upon them,

Hermione carefully breathed through her mouth, staying silent and still as possible while trying to ignore the putrid scent in the air. Shuffling legs passed them, some torn and bloody. Slowly, they wove their way through the cars, shambling aimlessly in search of food, low growls and groans escaping what must have been ghastly faces. 

Sparing a glance at her friends, Hermione saw traces of fear mixed with determination in their eyes. The countless times they had hidden together under the Invisibility cloak granted them the skill of staying silent and still, but it had never negated the fear of being caught. The stakes were higher now, bet with flesh and blood instead of detention and House points.

Watching the Inferi amble past was an agonizing process, and every time one stumbled over debris they clenched their wands tighter, fearing it had found them. Hermione could see why the Muggles called them Walkers, the way they shuffled and stumbled around in a jagged, unnatural walk. They moved at an unhurried pace, never speeding up to a run, never chasing down food as a hunter may. 

Finally, after an endless 5 minutes, the wave of Inferi passed, their footsteps fading into the distance. Letting out a breath, Ron leaned his head onto the pavement, letting tension bleed from his shoulders. The sound of a high pitched scream made them all jump, Ron cursing as his head slammed into the metal underside of the car. Quickly as they could, they shuffled from under the vehicle, hurrying towards where the group was gathering. 

Lori was clinging to a distraught Carol, Carl gripping his mother’s shirt with fear written on his face. T-Dog’s shirt was bathed in blood, Daryl holding him mostly upright. Dale was slowly climbing down from the RV, while Ginny, Neville, and Luna stood tense beside Professor Lupin. Tonks appeared from seemingly nowhere, glancing between the forest that everyone was watching and T-Dog’s bloodied shirt. Making a decision, the witch moved to take hold of T-Dog, examining the bandage on his arm before pulling out her wand and setting to work.

“Lori, two walkers are after  _ my baby, _ ” Carol cried, tears falling down her face as she gasped, staring into the woods. Lori shushed her gently, holding her close to her chest.

“Rick’s got her, she’ll be fine,” Lori mumbled.

All eyes turned towards the forest, scanning the treeline for some sign of movement. There was none, nothing from Walkers or Rick or Sophia. It was all still. Silent.

Shit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not gonna lie, I spent a good half hour glaring at my screen in annoyance because I managed to make a mess of things. In fixing a previous plot hole, I made a new plot hole in this chapter. Thankfully, I found a way around it eventually!!
> 
> Comments are always appreciated! I love seeing your opinions as I work.


	8. Hunting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With Sophia lost, the Survivors must balance searching for the young girl and keeping their party safe and together.

The world felt as eerily silent as it had two years ago on the rocky shore of the frozen lake. Sirius would never forget the blurry dark shapes of Dementors swooping towards him in silence. He recalled the terror they brought with them, for his own freedom and for Harry’s safety. And yet, he could do nothing. 

It was painful how much his life seemed to mirror itself. From the visual likeness between Harry and James to the way he and Remus always seemed to circle back to each other, despite a literal ocean between them for 12 long years. Now it seemed to want to throw old fears in his face, brewing up frustration that was echoed in other’s expressions as well. Sirius would never be content with sitting back while someone he cared about was in danger--he didn’t know when he started caring for these Muggles so deeply but here he was--and yet he was forced to do just that.

In the first ten minutes after Sophia’s flight for her life and Rick sprinting after her, the group was a mess. Lori was trying to console a  _ sobbing _ Carol, who was still trying to stumble into the woods after her daughter. Shane was just barely managing to keep the rest of the group contained, not wanting to lose any more members to unknown woods without cause. Tonks was busy trying to mend T-Dog’s arm, sewing it back together with slow, careful movements of her wand. The students…

If it hadn’t been for their extreme respect for Remus and Hermione’s own sanity, they would have been off into the woods the moment they could manage it. Gryffindors, the lot of them. Even Luna.

Perhaps it was hypocritical of him to consider their reckless need to help find and protect Sophia foolhardy, considering he had nearly lunged over the metal guard rail himself. Only the sudden appearance of Remus and his unflinching logic kept him on the road. His annoyance must have been written on his face though, since Remus forced Sirius to stay with the students.

By the 20 minute mark, the mantra of “Rick’s got her” and “She’ll be fine” had worn thin. Carol’s tears were still falling, but in silence now. Daryl and Shane had taken to pacing the rail like a caged tiger, and Glenn was sitting on the RV steps in a near panic. Andrea had ducked inside the RV long ago, likely trying to find some space to think. The students were scattered across the carline, watching the woods with keen eyes, wands clutched in their hands. It was taking too long.

Ten minutes later and there was finally movement from the woods. A branch cracking underfoot snapped everyone’s attention to the treeline. After a moment of tense silence, a figure emerged, his loose white shirt stained with soil.

“Dad!” Carl shot forward, stumbling into his dad’s arms without hesitation. Rick pulled Carl into a tight hug, lifting him from the ground as he trudged up the rise.

“Where is she?” Carol’s voice was shaking, but she stared at Rick with a mix of dread and anger.

Rick surveyed the group, confusion clouding his expression for a moment before fear set in.

“She didn’t make it back?  _ Shit _ .”

“ _ Where is she? _ ”

“I told her to head back here if I didn’t get back to her,” Rick began, setting Carl down and spinning back towards the woods, “If she didn’t make it here then she must be out there.”

“You left my daughter in the woods?  _ Alone _ ?” Carol’s voice rose with fear.

“I had no choice, didn’t want to draw the Walkers back to her,” Rick said, “Listen, I’ll go get her. I know where I left her.”

“I’m comin’ with, no need to send ya out alone this time,” Shane grabbed a shotgun from their weapon stash as he stepped forward.

“Might need a tracker out there,” Daryl stepped forward, crossbow slung over his shoulder.

“Sirius and I will come too,” Remus said all of the sudden, not bothering to glance at Sirius himself, which would have been offensive had Sirius been anything but rearing to go. “Having magic on your side can never hurt.”

Rick nodded his consent, stepping over the guardrail.

“We’ll come too,” Harry hurried forward, “Like you said, magic is useful.”

“No, you need to stay here,” Sirius said firmly, raising his hand to stave off the argument forming on his godson’s tongue, “We still need to clear the road so we can get moving again, and with that herd passing through we can’t risk any noise. Tonks is busy, so the six of you have to do it. We will find her, but you have to  _ stay here _ .”

Harry did not look happy about the instructions, but they were losing time. With a smile and a pat on his shoulder, Sirius turned from his godson and hurried to Remus’ side, following Rick over the guardrail and into the forest. 

They hurried through the forest with as much caution as they could muster on the time sensitive matter, Rick leading them forward with confidence. They followed a roughly straight path, ending up at a wide but shallow stream babbling happily through the woods. Rick hopped off the bank into the water, crouching slightly to look under the mass of roots with concern.

“This is where I left her,” Rick drawled, straightening up and casting a gaze around, “I told her to stay here and I would come get her. If I didn’t she was supposed to run back to camp.”

“Maybe she got lost? Little girl in a panic, easy to get turned around,” Shane peered around the forest, shotgun resting easily in his palms.

“Told her to keep the sun on her left shoulder, she knew where to go,” Rick said, “Even if she was scared, she knew the direction.”

“The sun can be difficult to find in the woods,” Sirius offered, gesturing to the dappled shadows cast by the canopy, “If she was worried about getting caught by an Infe- er, Walker then there is every chance she took a wrong turn. If she ended up at an angle to the road before straightening out she could be arriving farther ahead of the camp without knowing it.”

“Why dontcha step off the path and we can find out,” Daryl said suddenly, angrily motioning towards Sirius and Remus, “Messin’ up the tracks.”

With a glance downward, Sirius confirmed they were indeed standing right in the path, his own boots overlaying Sophia’s smaller tracks. Stepping off to the side, Sirius offered Daryl a sheepish smile, to which he only got a halfhearted glare.

“You guys should head back,” Rick said, gesturing at Shane, Remus, and Sirius, “Make sure the group knows what's going on, keep 'em busy.”

“I’ll think up some chores, got a lot to do round there,” Shane offered, nodding at Rick.

“That leaves you without any wizards,” Remus said, “Could be dangerous.”

“Ain’t the first time it would be that way,” Daryl muttered.

“Yes, but it would be the first time when someone is  _ missing _ ,” Remus said, “Wizards have ways of communicating long distance without the use of Muggle technology. If we do find Sophia along the way, don’t you think it would be best if we could relay that to her mother to end the panic quicker?”

Rick was listening intently, nodding along as Remus explained his logic like the scholar he was. 

“That sounds like somethin’ we could use right now,” Rick said, leaping up from the stream bed, “You, me, Sirius, and Daryl will go lookin’ for Sophia. Shane’ll head back and keep things under control at camp.”

With a final nod, the group split, Shane heading back towards the road while Daryl led the others deeper into the forest, eyes glued to the floor as he focused on his tracking.

…

Harry’s frustration at once again being told to stay back was close to boiling over by the time Shane returned. It had been less than a week since they had arrived in this new land (world? He wasn’t sure yet) and yet half the time he and the other DA members were told to stay back. The Muggles he could understand--they were still 15 or so, children in their eyes--but Sirius? Tonks?  _ Lupin _ ? They knew what threats they had faced and defeated in the five years Harry lived in the wizarding world. For Merlin’s sake he had  _ killed a basilisk _ ; that put him far above the Muggles in terms of qualifications, or at least it should have.

Still, he wouldn’t argue right now, not unless things spun out of control. They could argue their case later, once Sophia was found.

Harry straightened up as Shane approached, jogging up the hill and over the guardrail with ease.

“You didn’t find her?” Carol was immediately there, clutching a jacket of Sophia’s close to her chest.

“We found her tracks,” Shane said, “Daryl’s tracking her down now, Rick an’ the others are with him. She’ll be fine.”

“So what do we do now? Kill time?” Andrea asked, shifting on her feet.

“Bout right, we got some chores to do,” Shane leaned the shotgun against the RV, “When they get back with Sophia we need to be ready to move, don’t wanna stay around with the herd so close. Should get those cars moved, scavenge what we can from around here. Weapons, food, water--”

“You won’t have to worry about water,” Hermione put in suddenly, “Water is one of the things we can conjure quite easily.”

A flash of annoyance crossed over Shane’s face, but before he had the chance to respond Dale stepped forward.

“What all can you conjure, young lady?”

“Well,” Hermione began, and both Harry and Ron groaned in anticipation for the coming explanation, “It’s more complex than just a ‘this and that’. Fire and water are simple enough, and then we can conjure a variety of items so long as we know what they are made of. However, Gamp’s Law of Elemental Transfiguration has five principles as to what can and cannot be conjured, one of which is good food. We  _ can _ conjure things such as water, sauces, and wines since those are not considered ‘good food’, but we cannot do anything more nutritious. We can duplicate, enlarge, or transform food, or conjure it from another location that we know of. We can’t conjure animals to use as food.”

“So you’re saying as long as we have one thing of food you can duplicate it forever?” Glenn sounded positively delighted by the prospect, and judging by the shocked but excited looks on others the sentiment was shared.

“Technically, yes,” Hermione said, “We can duplicate food as long as it is good. However, once that food is duplicated, the duplicate cannot be duplicated. So if the original is lost or goes bad, we cannot duplicate more from previously duplicated items. It’s a… bit confusing I suppose.”

“But as long as we have nonperishables, we don’t need to worry about food,” Lori asked, looking to Hermione for clarification.

“Yes. So long as the originals are intact, we don’t need to be overly concerned about food. However, keep in mind many of us aren’t familiar with these spells.” Hermione glanced to the rest of the DA, a question in her eyes that Harry could only shrug a response to. “At school, conjuration beyond water and fire was high level magic, usually taught in 6th year for N.E.W.T.s. We are only fifth years, though I did take some extra classes with Professor McGonnagel and learned some of the basics. Professor Lupin, Sirius, and Tonks would probably know more than I do.”

“I know a fair bit,” Tonks offered, “But honestly my studies were more focused on offensive magic. Transfiguration wasn’t as important to me.”

“At the very least we can all learn the basics,” Hermione said confidently, turning to Harry, “It will be like the DA, except someone else teaching it.”

“We should still keep up the DA,” Harry said, “We need to know how to fight now more than ever, and Umbridge robbed us of a lot of time this year.”

“We can have alternate lessons,” Ginny offered, “Twice a week. One for the Defense Against the Dark Arts, and another for Conjuration.”

“We can plan school lessons later,” Shane suddenly cut in, “Let’s just… get to work for now. We should still scavenge and stock up on supplies, in case you all aren’t around when we need food or water. Weren’t you supposed to clear out the traffic block?”

Shane’s words were final, and as much as Harry still itched to go running after his godfather and Sophia, they did have work to do. They left Tonks by T-Dog, the witch being concerned with possible infection from the large cut she had mended on his arm. With daylight slipping away, the DA returned to the crash site, quietly plotting lessons among themselves as they worked.

…

Following Daryl and Rick through the woods led Sirius to several conclusions. One: Rick Grimes was an utter city boy, having little clue how to follow tracks or move in silence among trees. Now, Sirius was not a skilled tracker on his own, but he did know that it wasn’t just the footprints in the mud Rick was talking about that they needed to look out for.

Two: Daryl was not a talkative man, even regarding a skill he was obviously proficient in to the extreme. On occasion he would point out where Sophia had stumbled or gotten turned around, but otherwise maintained silence as he walked.

Three: Sophia was much further than they had anticipated.

It was a good half hour into the tracking before they found anything of note. Unfortunately, it was an Inferi that they found, stumbling around aimlessly. So close to Sophia’s tracks, they had to confirm what it had eaten, if anything.

Daryl shot a bolt clean through the Inferi’s head with ease, and the four of them hurried forward. Rick pulled out a set of work gloves from the small bag he was carrying, pulling them on so he could pry open the Inferi’s mouth.

“Whatcha doin’?” Daryl drawled, hovering a step away, crossbow at the ready.

“Checkin’ its teeth,” Rick huffed, using his pocket knife to pick between grizzly red teeth, most slightly rotten, “Flesh caught between em.”

“It fed recently then,” Remus observed, “Any sign of fabric?”

“No, but that’s not exactly a comfort,” Rick said, sitting back on his heels.

“We’ll need to cut it open then,” Sirius said, withdrawing his wand as he stood up, “Stand back, if you would.”

Rick and Remus did as they were told, stepping back a few feet. With one smooth motion, Sirius split the Inferi corpse in two at the middle, letting the guts spill out, quickly followed by the rancid smell of rotting meat. Coughing and gagging with the others, Sirius flicked his wand and scattered the guts enough to locate the blacked stomach, which he levitated away from the mess of other organs. One more wave of his wand and the stomach was neatly dissected.

Daryl glanced at Sirius briefly before stepping forward, kneeling down to poke through the contents. After a few moments of poking through mushed flesh with a knife, Daryl picked out a handful of tiny bones.

“Looks like it had itself some rodent for lunch,” Daryl said, holding the bones up for them to see, “Too small to be human. Could be woodchuck, squirrel. Dunno for sure.”

“Better to know than not,” Sirius offered, “We know Sophia wasn’t eaten at least.”

“Not by this Walker,” Rick said, killing off any hope Sirius had had. 

They moved on after that, walking in mostly silence with Daryl leading the way. Rick no longer asked questions of tracking, and even Sirius had grown tired of the friendly banter he and Remus had maintained up until then. 

“Tracks fade out here,” Daryl said, gesturing at the barren earth before them, “Trail’s gone cold.”

“So, what? That’s the end of it?” Rick asked, ducking around Daryl to squint fruitlessly at the ground.

“For now, yeah,” Daryl growled, “Can’t track without tracks, no chance. Only trackin’ that ever gets done like this is with dogs, and we haven’t got them.”

Well, if that wasn’t a direct sign, what was? Sirius turned towards Remus, offering him a cheerful (smug) grin before twisting on his feet, pulling at that familiar magic he learned decades ago. His head elongated, ears shifting upwards and becoming pointed. Dropping onto all fours, Sirius let his tongue loll out of his mouth as the thick fur warmed his body uncomfortably. The noise of him hitting the ground was apparently enough to draw attention back to him, as Daryl and Rick twisted to face him.

The shock and confusion on their faces was as priceless as Snivelous’ when James had managed to become Head Boy in 7th year.

“What the fuck?” Rick’s eloquent sentence mirrored the look on Daryl’s face to a tee. Sirius simply let out a soft bark in response, sitting back on his haunches.

“I suppose we did neglect to inform you of Sirius’ animagus state,” Remus said, sighing, “An animagus is a witch or wizard able to turn themselves into an animal at will, and is a learned spell. Sirius learned in his fifth year of schooling, alongside our friends James and Peter.”

“So what, he’s a shapeshifter?” Daryl looked confused and concerned, shifting from foot to foot as he glanced between Remus and Sirius.

“Not quite. A shapeshifter implies the ability to take any shape, but an animagus can only take the shape of one animal,” Remus sounded so much like a teacher in the moment, which Sirius supposed was fitting. “Sirius can only become a black dog, while James was a stag and Peter a rat.”

“And you didn’t become one,” Rick asked curiously.

“No,” Remus said, and Sirius perked his ears, attentive to whatever story he was about to spin, “Technically speaking, one would have to register to become an animagus, which none of them did at the time. I was intending to become a teacher, so I decided against evading the law so early in my life.”

Sirius huffed dramatically at that, nosing Remus’ hand in frustration. Technically, yes, but also that was a load of bullshit if he had ever heard one. Remus hadn’t even remotely decided to become a teacher in fifth year, and while Remus wasn’t keen on avoiding the law he  _ had _ broken many school rules in the previous years just by being friends with him and James.

“Oh, hush,” Remus said, patting Sirius’ head gently even as Sirius growled at him, “Regardless of the logistics behind it, Sirius has the senses of a dog, which I do believe solves our problem here.”

“He’s still got his mind?” Rick cocked his head, staring at Sirius intently.

“Yes,” Remus answered, even as Sirius growled his annoyance at the insinuation.

Daryl and Rick glanced at each other for a moment, sharing looks of bewilderment one last time before nodding in agreement.

“Let’s not waste time then, sun is going down,” Daryl hiked his crossbow over his shoulder and gestured for Sirius to go ahead.

“Actually,” Remus broke in, “At this point, it would be better to have a smaller search party in the woods. With night rising, the danger rises as Walkers get more active, correct? Many people means many footsteps, and more noise. The smaller the group, the safer it will be. If Sirius and I continue on, we still have means of communication through magic, but also are generally safer.”

“Safety usually comes in numbers,” Rick argued, to which Sirius whined his agreement.

“Maybe so, but in this case I think it will be the opposite. Sirius and I are familiar with how each other work, we can keep each other safe and move quickly.”

Rick considered this, turning to look at Daryl who only gave a shrug in response to the unspoken question. Splitting up could be more dangerous, but Remus was right at some things, and the familiarity between them would keep them safer in the long run. It took a long moment for Rick to come to the same conclusion as Sirius did, but he eventually nodded his agreement. 

“Here,” Rick said, withdrawing his gun and holding it out to Remus, “To keep safe.”

“I don’t think that is wise,” Remus replied, waving the offer off, “I am unfamiliar with guns and I wouldn’t want to take your weapon. Our magic will be weapon enough if we run into trouble.”

Rick nodded again, tucking his gun back in it’s holster. “Well, at least keep safe. Try to be back before sunrise.”

“We will,” Remus replied evenly, nodding to Daryl as the hunter passed by him, leading Rick back towards the road. Remus turned towards Sirius, smiling as he nudged his hand gently. “Let’s go, we have a lot of ground to cover this evening. When night falls, I’m afraid I will be of no help.”

Right. The full moon. They would have to be careful with their timing then. Nodding, Sirius stood up and trotted the direction Daryl had originally been heading, taking deep breaths as he searched for Sophia’s scent. After a moment he found it: a vaguely sweet aroma brought about by the chapstick she had been carefully rationing over the trip, though muddled by the scent of musty clothing. Still, it was distinct enough to follow. With a backwards glance to ensure Remus’ presence, Sirius led the way through the woods, pawsteps quiet on the earthen ground.

...

It would take another three hours of tracking and backtracking for Sirius to find anything of note. 

The sun was balanced delicately on the horizon now, a silent clock ticking down slowly. They had run into a few Inferi stumbling through the woods, each neatly and silently dispatched by Remus while Sirius continued his hunt. The semi-sweet smell of chapstick had faded to only the musty scent of Sophia herself, nothing to mask it now. They were following the trail relatively straight forward now, and Sirius had considered running ahead to try and find the girl before he saw it, laying in the downtrodden path. 

A small doll, black yarn hair tangled with leaves and sticks, muddied slightly but otherwise whole. 

Sirius darted forward, pressing his nose into the toy with a whine.

“Calm down Padfoot,” Remus said, kneeling down next to him and letting one hand idly pet his fur as a comfort, “She must have dropped it in her panic.”

“I can’t smell any blood on it,” Sirius offered, barely a moment after he shifted back to human. Remus looked unfazed by the sudden change, keeping his hand resting on Sirius’ now human shoulder.

“A good sign then. We should keep moving, we need to find Sophia before sund-”

Remus' sentence was cut off by a sudden scream, high and terrified. Both wizards shot to their feet, wands clutched tightly as they spun to locate the source of the scream. When a second cry split the air, they bolted, uncaring of how much noise they were making as they sprinted through the forest. Ducking around a tree, they nearly crashed headfirst into a small collection of Inferi snarling at unseen prey.

“ _ Diffindo! _ ” Sirius cried on instinct, splitting the Inferi closest to him in two. 

Twirling his wand, Remus shrunk three of the Inferi stumbling towards them, stepping on them when they were about the size of a small toad. Throwing a grin Remus’ way, Sirius strafed to the side of the group and cast a silent “ _ Immobulus” _ , freezing the rest of the Inferi where they stood. With a huff, Remus raised his wand to finish the fight.

“ _ Diffindo _ .”

The Inferi’s heads burst open dramatically, their corpses collapsing to the ground as Sirius released the immobilization spell. Tucking his wand back into his pocket, Sirius turned towards the Inferi’s chosen prey… a tree?

“Hello?” Sirius stepped forward as he called out, peering up the branches as Remus skirted the dead to do the same.

From above them, tucked in the shadow of the trunk, a soft whimpering cry could be heard. Remus glanced at Sirius, then lit his wand and lifted it towards the tree. Slowly, a small form came into view, muddy blue shirt and ratty blond hair.

“ _ Sophia! _ ” Sirius cried in delight as Remus grinned broadly, “Oh thank Merlin we found you!”

“Are you alright?” Remus cut in before Sirius could get too excited.

Sophia nodded, carefully scooting out of the tree and dropping into Sirius’ arms, clinging to him desperately. Sirius hugged her close, turning to keep her eyes off the dead Inferi behind him.

“Are they gone?” Sophia’s quiet whisper came after a moment, though she did not peel herself away from Sirius to check.

“Yes, they’re all dead now,” Remus replied calmly, “Rick got the two that were chasing you originally, and Sirius and I took care of these.”

“Rick and Daryl were out here looking for you with us,” Sirius put in, “They wanted to find you as soon as possible, but someone needed to get back to the group and update them when the trail went cold.”

Sophia pulled away at that, looking both hopeful and confused.

“Was my mother with them?”   


“She would have been,” Remus said, “But she was so worried she wouldn’t have been able to protect herself if needed. Daryl is a tracker, so he was able to track your footprints most of the way before we had to rely on Sirius’ nose to find you.”

Sophia looked even more confused at that statement, staring at Sirius’ nose as if it were the size of Snivellus’.

“I’m an animagus,” Sirius said with a bark of laughter, “I can turn into a dog!”

“Really?” Sophia sounded enthralled now. “How?”

Sirius shrugged. “Magic. Now, we need to be getting back to camp before the others get worried. Right, Moony?”

There was no response.

“Remus?” Sirius turned to face his friend, who was staring out into the forest canopy, perfectly still. “Remus? Are you alright?”

Sirius gestured for Sophia to stay where she was and slowly approached Remus, withdrawing his wand from his pocket. Remus didn’t react as Sirius paused by his side, his eyes fixed forward. Following his friend’s gaze, Sirius felt himself freeze for a moment as well. The sky had faded to an indigo purple, the last dregs of sunlight slipping away rapidly, no longer hiding the full moon from view.  _ Shit _ .

“Remus, Remus  _ fight it _ ,” Sirius hissed, physically pulling his friend away from the direct line of faint moonlight. The night was still young, the moon just barely visible in the sky, maybe he could use that to his advantage. “Remus please,  _ please _ .” 

The guttural growl pulled from Remus’ throat sent chills down Sirius’ spine, and he knew it was Remus no longer. He could only watch as the Wolf took over, twisting Remus’ limbs in painful directions as it morphed his body. Fur sprouted over his face and hands, quickly spread over his cracking and twisting arms. Howling in pain, Remus fell to the ground, and Sirius stepped back at last, watching as a long grey snout stretched out from a face that looked less and less like Remus with each moment. From behind them, Sophia gasped, crying out in fear as she watched what truly was a horrible transformation.

_ Shit! _

“Sophia,” Sirius lunged towards her, grabbing her arms and tearing her focus from Remus, “Sophia you need to run. I don’t care where, just  _ run! _ If something is chasing you, climb a tree. Find somewhere a dog can’t get. Go, run!  _ Run! _ ”

A scream tearing from her throat, Sophia ran. She turned and stumbled away, darting between trees in a fearful flight once more. Satisfied, Sirius turned to face Remus again, only to find no trace of man there. Instead, there was a large grey wolf, whimpering slightly as it stumbled to its feet. It shook its head as if to clear it, and the whimpers turned to a growl. 

Sirius transformed into his dog once more, letting out a low snarl of his own as he stood between the Wolf and Sophia’s escape. The Wolf rose to its full height, a few inches taller than Sirius, turning to stare at him with brilliant yellow eyes, so unlike Remus’ own. For a moment, Sirius thought it would turn a leave, recognizing Sirius as too much effort to fight, but it didn’t. Pausing, it paced to the right, peering around his shoulder into the forest curiously for a moment. Then it bolted.

Sirius yelped as it crashed into his shoulder, throwing him against a tree in it’s hurry to get past him. Recovering his balance, Sirius whirled and raced after the Wolf, barking helplessly as he did. It had found Sophia, it was going to get to her, shit shit  _ shit shit! _

A scream split the air moments before a snarling howl, and Sirius burst into a slightly larger clearing to see the Wolf lunging up a tree trunk, snapping at the tips of Sophia’s toes. Without a thought, Sirius hurled himself at the Wolf, snarling and snapping in fury. His claws dug into the Wolf’s side, jaws snapping closed around the nape of its neck as they twisted off balance. Sirius snarled, grappling for purchase on the ground as the Wolf twisted beneath him, legs flailing in an attempt to shove him off. Trying to cling to the high ground, Sirius struggled to pin the Wolf beneath him, still gripping it by its neck. 

Sirius whined in pain as the Wolf scratched down his chest, loosening his grip enough for it to twist from his grasp. Scrabbling upright, the Wolf lunged at him again, jaws snapping inches away from his face before closing on his shoulder. Howling, Sirius twisted away from the Wolf, ignoring the tearing of flesh long enough to slam into its side and send it sprawling again, still off balance from Sirius pulling away. Barely a moment later, the Wolf leapt to its feet, snarling at Sirius from a few feet away but moving no closer.

Not wanting to risk leaving an opening to attack Sophia, Sirius held his ground, back to the tree Sophia had scrambled up. He watched as the Wolf paced back a few steps, shaking out leaves and droplets of blood from its fur. It stalked to the right, and Sirius mirrored it, keeping himself between the Wolf and the tree. It turned to the left, then the right, never able to find an opening without Sirius. It took a step forward, and Sirius snarled. 

Night had truly fallen now, darkness encasing the fight but not Sirius’ eyes. Dog’s had fairly good night vision, and he could still track where theWolf walked, letting him keep up this song and dance. Sophia had fallen silent in the tree, only the occasional whimper telling him she was still there. He kept his eyes fixed on the Wolf, watching it pace around him. A few skirmishes broke out here and there as the Wolf tried to break his defense, but Sirius gave no ground, driving it back each and every time. Rinse and repeat, the stalemate would not end.

It would be a long night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel it is necessary to note my working title for this chapter was "temporary dog park y'all" so there is that.
> 
> As a side note, would you guys be interested in more mid chapter POV switches? Should I make it more clear when that happens or is this style good?


	9. Lost and Found

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daybreak comes and the lost members of the Survivors party are nowhere to be seen, so they must set out on their own to find them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay on this chapter, writing it was like pulling teeth! Finally got it done and edited though, enjoy!

Ron woke with a start, as he found himself doing more and more frequently, though this time it was not because of Harry’s nightmares. No, this time it was Hermione, frantically slapping his shoulder with her pillow.

“Ron! Ron, wake up! Up up, now!”

“‘M up, I’m up, Mione. Leave off, I’m awake,” Ron batted the pillow away, sitting up to rub the sleep from his eyes, “What is it? What's the problem?”

“Lupin and Sirius never showed up,” Hermione hissed as she repacked her bag. Ron could spy Harry over her shoulder, fumbling to put on his glasses as he sat up.

“What? Lupin and Sirius?” Harry pat his head in a futile attempt to tame his hair.

“Yes, I was just out talking to Tonks. Apparently they never returned from the tracking Sophia last night. It's clear what happened.” 

Ron and Harry shared a look behind Hermione’s back.

“Care to enlighten us then,” Harry asked, tossing his own things into his bag with little care.

Hermione huffed, turning back towards them with a vague look of annoyance. “Honestly, I told you this yesterday. Last night was the full moon, Professor Lupin must have turned. Sirius and him are probably in the woods, keeping out of sight until Lupin has the energy to come back. Turning into a werewolf is exhausting, why do you think Professor Lupin would always take the day after the full moon off?”

“What about Sophia,” Ron asked hurriedly, fear on the forefront of his mind.

“Sirius wouldn’t let her get hurt,” Harry said firmly, “If they did find her, Sirius probably took her somewhere safe, somewhere that Lupin couldn’t get them. He fought Lupin while he was a wolf before, he could do it again I bet.”

“It doesn’t matter, we need to get moving,” Hermione said as she tugged them out of the RV, “We are going to try and find them. Luna, Ginny, and Neville are already up and waiting.”

Stumbling after Hermione, they quickly discovered the entirety of the survivors were waiting for them. Most everyone was gathered loosely around Rick and Shane, who were gesturing at a map, only Dale and T-Dog stood back from the group. Tonks looked up as they arrived, flashing them a quick smile.

“Wotcher, Harry. You ready to go find your godfather?”

Harry nodded, leading Ron and Hermione to stand beside the rest of the DA. Ron shifted uncomfortably as Rick’s eyes trailed them.

“You sure it’s a good idea to take a bunch of children along with us?” Shane addressed his question to Rick, though the entirety of the DA still caught it.

“Oi! We aren’t helpless!” Ron said indignantly.

“This isn’t the first time we’ve had to track Lupin and Sirius down,” Harry tacked on, “We know how to handle ourselves! Besides, if we want to find Sophia quickly, we need more people looking.”

“We’re hardly children anymore anyways,” Ginny put in, “Most of us had some near-death experience within a year of getting to Hogwarts!”

Ron’s mind briefly flashed to Ginny, limp and exhausted as Fawks took them from the Chamber of Secrets. He suppressed the shiver that ran down his spine and focused his attention on the startled cops.

“We do need all the hands we can get,” Glenn offered tentatively.

“Besides, if the students all head off to this area together,” Tonks said, gesturing towards the map, “We’ll cover more ground and keep in contact. Harry knows how to conjure a Patronus, and that’s the simplest way to message each other. There’s six of em, they know how to take care of themselves.”

Rick shifted his gaze between the children and Tonks, glancing at Lori once only to receive a shrug in response to his silent question. Shane shifted uncomfortably, shaking his head slightly as Rick glanced at him. Finally, Rick seemed to come to a decision.

“I see no reason why they shouldn’t come,” Rick drawled, “Just make sure to stay in shoutin’ distance. Can’t be losin’ more people in the woods.”

The conversation dwindled out after that, and within the next ten minutes, they were on the move. Tonks had taken a moment to clarify with Harry how to send a Patronus message, which Harry had passed on to the rest of the DA as they began to trek into the woods. Now, half an hour later, they were fairly deep into the woods, combing the area for signs of Sophia or the missing wizards. Ron was supremely glad that this woodland adventure did not involve following spiders to more,  _ larger _ spiders. Second year sucked.

“What are the chances they found Sophia,” Neville asked after a long stretch of silence.

“Pretty good I bet,” Ron replied, “I mean, Sirius did find Pettigrew from across an ocean, and he was a rat! Can’t get much more incognito than that.”

“Sirius is good at finding people as a dog,” Harry agreed.

“But if Professor Lupin transformed unexpectedly…” Neville trailed off nervously.

“They knew what day it was,” Luna assured them, pausing to peer at their path intently, “Professor Lupin was working on a moon chart at the CDC, he’s kept track of the days.”

“They’ll be prepared. Besides, they used to go running around during the full moon at Hogwarts, along with my dad. It’s probably why they told Rick and Daryl to come back without them, it would be safer just the two of them if Lupin transformed,” Harry continued.

“Particularly if they are trying to keep Lupin’s lycanthropy a secret,” Hermione agreed. 

“Look,” Ginny said suddenly, pointing ahead of them, “What’s that?”

Ron hurried to his sister’s side, peering through the woods to see… a foot? Fumbling slightly, Ron withdrew his wand and glanced at the rest of the DA, noting that they all had drawn their wands as well. Harry stepped to the front quickly, Ginny flanking to his left with Luna close behind her. Ron ducked around a tree to creep along beside Hermione, leaving Nevile to trail Harry himself. 

They slowly crept towards the foot as quietly as they could manage, wands held out at the ready. With a nervous nod from Ron, Hermione pushed the last of the foliage away out of their way, letting out a soft gasp of surprise at the ghastly sight before them.

Half a dozen Inferi lay still before a tree, torn apart at the seams with their guts splayed out around them. One was split in two, it’s rotting brain still visible in its skull. The other five were all missing their heads completely, the flesh and bone scattered around their limp bodies. Ron’s stomach churned at the disgusting smell of it all. Slowly, the DA lowered their wands.

“Someone got caught in a fight here,” Harry observed unnecessarily.

“We can’t be sure it was them though,” Hermione said, even as she peered hopefully at the groundWith as if she was looking for tracks.

“What, some random muggle came along and blew their bloody heads off? And split one down the middle?” Ron gestured to their corpses as he spoke.

“Well… no probably not,” Hermione consented, “Even if it was Sirius and Lupin, how can we find them? They’re obviously not around here.”

“Not anymore,” Luna said from the other side of the tree. She poked her head back around, a leafy twig tangled in her pale blond locks and her wand tucked behind her ear. “But they once were.”

“How can you tell?”

Luna stooped to the base of the tree, digging at its bark for a moment before standing to present the group with her find. Shaggy black fur, matted with tree sap but distinctively dog nonetheless.

“So Sirius was here,” Harry concluded, stepping around the corpses to examine the tree himself, “And he got caught on the tree for some reason. If he was a dog to track Sophia down, he would have been paying more attention to where he was walking.”

“Maybe the Inferi snuck up on them and he got backed into the tree?” Ron offered, though the theory didn’t feel right to him.

“No, he would have heard it. Sirius was on the run for a while, remember? His situational awareness is incredible,” Harry stood, squinting at the ground as he carefully walked the area around the tree.

“Mad-eye must’ve gotten to his head,” Ginny muttered, skirting the corpses to scour the land with Harry.

Without more conversation, the DA searched the clearing for clues of some sort. Beyond the fur caught in the tree, Neville found scratches in the bark, which he vaguely surmised could be from someone climbing it. Hermione pointed out a few broken branches opposite the Inferi corpses, which Ginny confirmed as not being from the Inferi, whom she tracked as entering the clearing from the direction they came. With little else to go on, the DA followed the broken branches into the forest once more.

They fanned out once again once the clear trail was lost, walking in near silence. Ron could practically see Harry’s mind mulling over the facts, trying to figure out where Sirius could be. How many times had he lost track of Sirius now? Their relationship may have gotten off to a rough start, but Sirius was important to Harry, enough to make him fly to the Ministry to save him. Having Sirius go missing in a perilous land again had to be wearing on Harry’s sanity.

A low groan drew Ron from his thoughts, his wand instantly in his hand and at the ready. Drawing together on instinct, the DA followed the telltale sound of an Inferi, Harry taking point without hesitation. They once again found themselves ducking into a clearing with a large tree as the focal point, though this time there were no corpses. A lone Inferi stumbled aimlessly around, shuffling its feet in the leaves. A twig cracked beneath someone’s feet, and the Inferi turned its attention to them.

Most of its lower jaw was missing its flesh, but it still growled angrily at them, stumbling forward with arms outstretched. It didn’t even manage to get within arm’s length before Ginny decapitated it by means of an explosion. The Inferi fell with a thud, lingering upright for a moment as gravity decided which way to pull it.

“Well, that was anticlimactic,” Luna offered as the DA tucked their wands away, stepping over the corpse.

“Maybe so, but it was also useful. Look,” Hermione pointed towards the area the Inferi had been shuffling about. 

At first glance, Ron simply thought the leaves coating the forest floor were a darker shade than the rest for some reason, but as he approached he realized what he was looking at. Blood. It was splattered across the floor, drying on the leaves in dark red splotches and seeping into the soil below. Harry frowned, looking pale.

“It’s not enough to be life-threatening,” Ginny offered helpfully, “Even if it is Sirius and Lupin, they’ll be alive.”

“Yeah, but injured,” Harry countered, turning his gaze to the forest.

“So what, something attacked them? It couldn’t have been an Inferi, they would be dead if it bit them,” Ron crouched down to poke through the leaves with his wand.

“I don’t think it was an Inferi,” Hermione said, walking to the edge of the clearing before turning to face them, “I think it was Professor Lupin. As a werewolf of course. Last night was the full moon, if Professor Lupin changed, then Sirius would have turned into a wolf to keep himself and Sophia safe, assuming they found Sophia. Werewolves aren’t as interested in attacking wildlife like other wolves and dogs--if you had bothered to read your book in third year you would have known this. If Sirius was a dog, and Sophia was a human, then Professor Lupin would be trying to get to Sophia while Sirius was trying to stop him. They would have gotten in a fight.”

“We can’t be sure this is their blood though,” Harry growled in frustration, “We’re just guessing.”

“Maybe not,” Ron said, “Look, pawprints. Could be Sirius.”

“Could also be some random dog wandering through the woods,” Ginny rebutted.

“How many dogs do you know pace around trees like this,” Ron gestured towards the arc of prints he was uncovering.

“How many do  _ you _ know?”

“Let’s not argue,” Neville cut in suddenly, looking a tad surprised with himself before continuing, “We need to find them. If they were injured, I’d bet they’d find a water source first. It’s a landmark, and helpful to clean out their wounds.”

“Professor Lupin was always tired after transformations, so they won’t have gone too far,” Hermione offered as well, “Let’s see if they left any tracks.”

A snapping twig grabbed everyone’s attention before they had a chance to search for tracks. The six young mages spun on their heels, wands at the ready. Stumbling into the clearing were Inferi, a small herd of ten or so, snarling and groaning as they set eyes upon their food.

“ _ Shit! _ They must have heard the bombarda,” Ron snarled, trying to tug Ginny behind him only to get slapped away, “We need to keep it down.”

“ _ Impedimenta _ ,” Hermione said as the first Inferi got within clawing distance. The Inferius closest slowed, moving as if it were syrup. “Keep to silent spells, don’t use bombarda.  _ Diffindo! _ ” Hermione punctured her statement by felling the Inferius she had slowed, it’s head cleanly sliced in two.

Ron swallowed the fear in his stomach and stepped forward, muttering the leg-locker curse to send two Inferi stumbling to the ground. Harry took his cue from Ron and did the same, adding two more Inferi to the groaning pile on the ground. They still tried to claw their way towards him, so Ron cast his gaze around the clearing, settling on a nearby log. With his oh so carefully practiced swish and flick, Ron levitated the heavy wood up and over the Inferi, dropping it squarely on their heads. Five down, five to go.

Luna dispatched one closest to her with a quiet “ _ Diffindo _ ”, allowing Ginny to step forward and stun the two lumbering towards her before severing their heads with her own diffindo. Neville hesitated for a moment before lifting his wand a pinning one of the remaining with a full body lock. 

“D- _ Diffindo _ ,” Neville said, leaving only one Inferius still stumbling about. Before Ron had the chance to move, Hermione cut the corpses head off, sending its body crashing to the ground. The DA all stood in silence, wands still raised as they scanned the treeline for more of a threat.

“I think that’s all of them,” Hermione said after several long minutes, “We need to go, before the day slips away.”

“We need to be more careful,” Harry said as well, “Noise attracts them, so we can’t be as casual with bombarda as we have been.”

With noises of agreement, the group turned their attention back to the search, soon finding tracks that were obvious even to their eyes. The leaves that had been laying on the ground were upturned in a jagged path, as if someone had been stumbling through the area with heavy footfalls. It was an easy path to follow.

...

Unfortunately, it went on further than they had expected. Noon had come and gone now, and they still were following the trail, which had grown messier and messier as they walked. Luna was occasionally stopping to root around in bushes (“Looking for Nargles maybe?” Ron had muttered to Harry) while Neville had paused once or twice to observe a plant, though never for more than a second or two. The skittish Gryffindor seemed both incredibly sure of himself and incredibly unsure at the same time, as if he didn’t know why he was here but he knew he was doing something. It was strange, but that was Neville.

At last, there was the faintest babbling of a brook.

“Water!” Ron stage whispered, raising a hand to his ears to hear it better.

The DA picked up their pace again, following the stumbling path towards the growing sound of water. Soon enough, they spied a break in the woods, darting towards it with excitement.

The six of them stumbled onto the bank of the stream, which was… empty. The path suddenly broke off, several paces from the stream. The muddy shore was barren of people, human and Inferi alike. Ron felt the hope bleed from him instantly.

“Harry?” 

The six of them whirled to face the voice as one, wands raised, only to be dropped a half-second later. There before them, dressed in ragged clothing with mud and blood smeared over his skin, was Sirius Black. His startled look quickly faded into a broad grin as Harry hurried forward to hug him tightly.

“Sirius!” Ron could hear the utter relief in Harry’s voice at finding his godfather alive, if not completely whole.

“Padfoot, you better not be reopening your wounds,” The familiar voice of Lupin came from just beyond Sirius, and their old teacher emerged from thin air a moment later. He looked worse for wear, his clothes torn and bloody like Sirius’, his face creased with exhaustion despite the smile he offered them.

“I see you all managed to find us,” Lupin said as he limped towards them, “Did everyone else make it back to camp? We didn’t have time or energy to send a message.”

“Yeah,” Ginny said, “Everyone but Sophia.”

“Ah, that would be because Sophia is here,” Lupin clarified, “She’s sleeping right now, it’s been a long night.”

“Is she alright?” Ron and Harry both asked at the same time, Ron trying to peer past Lupin to see the young girl.

“Shaken up by seeing a werewolf and black dog fight, but she’s unharmed. We put up visual wards to avoid suspicion for the time being,” Lupin said, noting Ron’s confusion.

“So you did transform,” Hermione said, “Are you alright? It looks like it was a pretty bad fight.”

“I’m just fine, Miss Granger. A little battered, but that’s par for the course with this,” Lupin replied, “Sirius is quite familiar with my motions as a wolf.”

“The same could be said for you, Moony,” Sirius retorted, “And don’t go acting like everything is fine and dandy. We need to get those wounds properly stitched soon, both you and I. You know how it works.”

“I am aware, yes,” Lupin said dryly, turning to limp back the way he came.

Sirius let out an exasperated sigh, then followed his friend, the DA trailing behind them. Ron nearly tripped over his own feet when their camp suddenly came into view as they passed over the invisible boundary. It was modest: a small fire pit roasting a fish, their cloaks laid out as sleeping bags with their packs as pillows, a pile of bloody rags and bandages tossed to the side. Lupin crossed to a bundle of blankets, carefully kneeling down to shake the form underneath.

“Sophia!” Harry cried in relief, his shoulders finally relaxing as the young girl sat up, rubbing sleep from her eyes.

“Harry? Hermione? How’d you all find us?” Sophia mumbled, stumbling to her feet to greet them with a hug like the child she was. It must have been a hellish night for someone so young, but Sophia still managed a smile despite it all.

“We did a little snooping,” Ron offered, “Rick took the rest of the group to search in the other section of the woods since we didn’t know exactly where you had gone after Daryl lost the trail.”

“What about my mom? Is she okay?”

“She’s fine,” Ginny confirmed, “She went with Rick. We should send them a message now.”

“Is Tonks with them?” Lupin asked as he settled back on his cloak, flinching slightly as he moved too quickly.

“Yeah, for communication,” Ron replied.

“I’ll send the message,” Harry said, “I’ve got the most experience with corporeal Patronus.”

“We  _ do _ know how to cast them, Harry,” Hermione put in dryly.

“Er, right. But you’ve only had a few months of practice, and I’ve had… well… a few years,” Harry said, much to the amusement of Lupin. When Hermione only offered her a tired glance, Harry turned and raised his wand, clearly enacting: “ _ Expecto Patronum _ .”

Instantly, a brilliant silver stag burst from the tip of Harry’s wand, galloping silently around the camp before slowing to a stop before Harry. Out of the corner of his eye, Ron saw Sophia gasp, whipping her head around to follow the movements of the Patronus.

“Message to Nymphadora Tonks,” Harry began clearly, “We found Lupin, Sirius, and Sophia. We will be returning to the RV as soon as we can.”

The stag paused a moment as if to confirm Harry’s message was complete, then turned and walked away, leaving a silvery trail behind it. Sophia stared after it in awe.

“So now what? We head back?” Ron directed his question to Sirius and Lupin, who glanced at each other before answering.

“We think we know the way back, but frankly we are both exhausted,” Sirius said, moving to sit beside Lupin, “We were tracking all day yesterday, and then up all night in a stalemate battle. Neither of us got any sleep, and I rather think some time to rest would be beneficial. It’s perhaps an hour back to the road if we take the shortest path, we will have time to reach it before sunset.”

Taking in Lupin’s clear exhaustion and pain, Ron knew no one was going to try and get them to leave earlier. Nodding, the DA settled themselves in the camp, resting their tired feet and idly snacking on the fish someone had evidently caught.

Minutes passed in idle silence for the most part. Harry was picked at a seam in the cloak beneath them, Hermione had her nose buried in a book she had stuffed in her pack at camp. Neville was now carefully observing some plant he had picked up at some point, while Luna was weaving grass strands together. Sophia had drifted back to sleep under her blanket at some point, and Lupin looked to be doing the same as he leaned against Sirius. Ron let himself stare into the forest, mimicking Ginny.

A flash of silver pulled Ron’s attention in again, and he turned in time to see a jackrabbit skid to a stop before Harry. Sirius nudged Lupin awake, sitting forward to peer at the Patronus as the rest of the DA tuned in to the new arrival. The rabbit paused, rising on its hind legs to sniff the air before speaking with Tonks’ voice.

“Carl has been shot, will meet you at the RV in an hour. Stay together, stay safe.”

It vanished without another word, leaving them in dreaded silence once again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a side note, I'll be branching out more from the cannon once I gather these last few characters up, so look forward to that!


	10. Farm Arrival

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> News of Carl's wound force the rest of the Survivors to spring into action, heading to the Greene Farm.

The logical side of Tonks knew that this would happen whether she was there or not. The cynical side of Tonks told her she had just not tried hard enough, and had she been there things would have been different. Trying to argue with one or the other was like talking sense to a blast-ended skrewt: pointless and painful.

It was a shock when the stranger came cantering in on horseback to save Andrea, and even more so when she had said Carl had been shot. Lori hardly questioned it, simply ignored Daryl’s rather weak orders and climbed atop the horse behind the stranger and galloped away. Tonks barely had a chance to recover from the shock of the news before a silver stag was bounding into the clearing and spoke of Sophia’s return before promptly vanishing. It took Tonks a moment before she could fumble her wand out and send the return message.

It was a rush to get back to the RV, the group moved as quick as the brush would allow, no longer slowed by the search for Sophia. Carol had nearly outpaced the entire group in her hurry to get to her daughter, only Daryl's snap to stay behind him kept her in check. Despite what Tonks had told Harry, they arrived at the camp in just under 45 minutes. 

Dale and T-Dog were still there, the latter looking pale and unsteady from what Tonks hoped was only bloodloss. Dale was instantly on his feet as they arrived, looking between them in confusion.

"Where's Rick? And Car-"

"Some crazy girl on a horse rode up and took Lori with her, Carl's been shot!" Glenn exclaimed, hands grasping at his hair while he shifted from foot to foot frantically.

"We split off from Shane, Rick, and Carl a while ago, they wanted to keep looking while we headed back. We heard a shot, and then someone found us and said Carl had been shot. He, Rick, Lori and Shane are all at the Greene farm, evidently they have a doctor," Tonks filled in as calmly as she could, "We also heard from Harry and the others, they found Sophia, Remus, and Sirius. They'll meet us back here and then we need to head to the farm."

"You just let Lori hear off with some stranger? How do we know she was telling the truth," Dale hissed.

"Didn't have much choice. Beside, she knew Rick an' Carl's names, don't think she's lyin'," Daryl rumbled, "What's up with him?"

Dale looked over at T-Dog, who was resting idly in the shade, half listening. Tonks could see his arm still looked fine, so her healing hadn't been a complete fluke. Still, she couldn't cure any infection from that rusty metal, and he had lost a lot of blood.

"He's got some sort of infection I think, I thought you cleared that up Tonks," Dale said as he turned his gaze back to her. Daryl hesitated for a moment, then ducked away from the conversation silently.

"I'm not a fully trained medic, I can stitch wounds and mend bones and the like, but anything involving blood or illness isn't in my wheelhouse. I learned for battle medicine in the Wizarding world, not infectious disease," Tonks said, though guilt still gnawed at her stomach.

"Should keep your rags off my stuff," Daryl growled, suddenly returning to toss a rag at Dale's face. He rustled through a plastic bag full of bottles as he ambled towards T-Dog, pulling out one and handing it to him. "M' brother's stash, he got the clap on occasion."

T-Dog hesitated for a moment, then took the bottle and shook some out, swallowing them quickly. Satisfied he was taken care of, Daryl snatched his bow back up and turned toward the forest, only to whistle for their attention a moment later.

Turning to the treeline brought a welcome sight to everyone. Clambering over the guardrail were the six students, all featuring leafy hair and dusty trousers. Close behind them was Sophia, muddied and rumpled but unharmed. As soon as she saw her mother she let out a cry of delight and dashed into her hug, clinging to her shirt. 

“Sophia, sweetheart,” Carol blubbered into her daughter’s hair, smoothing the knotted locks back compulsively as she hugged her close, “I’m so glad… you’re alright…” 

Sophia didn’t bother with words, opening crying into her mother’s shirt instead. She tucked herself close, hiding her face in the faded fabric she clung to, small hands trembling. The rest of the spectators relaxed at the sight, some of the tension finally leaving Tonks shoulder’s. At least one of the children was safe.

When had she stopped considering the students, children?

The thought was put out of her mind as Tonks caught sight of the final two party members. Remus and Sirius, leaning heavily on each other as they worked their way towards the railing, battered beyond belief but alive.

Tonks was aware the full moon was the previous night, but the pair of wizards looked far worse for wear than that implied. Remus had scratches littering his face, deep bags under his eyes and lines of exhaustion. Bandages were wound around his leg, arms, and even his neck. He was limping heavily, leaning on Sirius to make it up the hill.

Sirius himself was not in great shape either. The animagus walked stiffly, favoring his right left side carefully. Tonks could make out telltale bandages peeking out from beneath his collar and sleeve, though not wound up his neck like Remus. Exhaustion lined his face, but seeing Sophia returned safely to Carol had brought a bright smile despite his wounds.

“What the  _ hell _ happened to you?!” Dale was beside himself with worry as the two wizards approached, hobbling forward. 

“Ah, ran into some trouble while we were looking for Sophia. A herd of, uh, Walkers caught us off guard, we fell down a rocky slope,” Sirius said confidently. They had rehearsed this it seemed.

“Rather,  _ he _ fell down the slope and dragged  _ me _ with him,” Remus said mirthfully, eyeing Sirius with a smile.

“I didn’t want you to get bit!”

“No, you wanted me to get cut up instead.”

“ _ Did _ anyone get bit?” Tonks asked, focusing her gaze on Remus.

“No, everyone is alright,” Remus replied smoothly, nodding his head slightly to Tonks. “It sounds like we need to get to Carl though, do you know what happened?”

“Not much, I’ll fill you in on the way. Glenn, you take the van, I’m going to get these two bloody idiots patched up.”

It took perhaps 15 minutes for the entire group to clamber into their various vehicles and drive to the Greene Farm. Tonks spent the time cleaning Sirius and Remus’ wounds while reciting what she knew about Carl’s accident. Unfortunately, she had no silver to mend the cuts on Sirius, so simple bandages would have to do. As an extra precaution, Sirius elected to stay in his animagus form for the time being. A dog with bites and scratches was easier to explain than a human.

Arriving at the Greene farm was rather underwhelming, truth be told. It was an unassuming place, oddly peaceful for their purpose. Wide fields were dotted with cattle, broken only by a large boarded up barn and stable. The farmhouse was atop a gentle slope, it’s white paint fading with sun and age. They pulled to a stop under the large trees in the front yard, climbing out as the stranger from before stepped off the porch. Daylight was fading now, casting everyone in deep shadow.

“You Rick’s group?” The stranger paused before them, passing her gaze over them slowly.

“Uh, y-yeah,” Glenn stuttered out, “I’m Glenn.”

“Maggie Greene,” She replied, nodding to them, “Rick an’ the others are inside. ‘Side from Shane that is.”

“Where’s Shane?” Harry asked immediately, though he still followed her to the porch.

“Went out with Otis to find my Daddy some supplies he needs to help Carl. Shoulda been back by now though,” Maggie frowned at that, turning her attention to the road for a second before gesturing them into the house.

“Where’d they head? Maybe I can go take a look and see what’s going on,” Tonks said as she entered, stumbling slightly on the doorframe.

“Down the road to the school, they had some medical center set up there. Five minute drive, they left half an hour ago. Should meet my Daddy first.”

The talk fell silent as they entered a sitting room. Rick sat in a chair next to Lori, a bandage on the crook of his arm and his head in his hands. On another chair was a young blonde woman who stood as they arrived, following Maggie out after a moment.

“Hey,” Glenn said, drawing Rick out of his trance. The man looked  _ bad _ , sweat beading on his forehead with red rimmed eyes, struggling to focus on them.

“Hey,” Rick rasped back, leaning into Lori’s gentle touch on his arm.

“We’re here for you, okay? Whatever you need.” Rumbles of agreement washed over the rest of the group as Glenn spoke.

“Thank ye,” Rick drawled, though his focus was quickly lost again. 

Tonks ducked through the crowd to the only room with a closed door, opening it slowly. Inside was quiet, the air thick with the tangy scent of blood. Carl lay still and pale on the bed, his small frame slick with sweat and his eyes scrunched up in clear pain. A large square of red-tinged gauze was tapped to his belly. Next to the bed was an elderly man with tufts of white hair atop his head, a grim look on his face.

“You’re the doctor? How is he?”

“It’s not looking good,” The man said, removing his stethoscope from Carl’s wrist, “His pulse isn’t great and his pressure is dropping. He’s got five bullet fragments in his abdomen and internal bleeding as well. I can’t operate until Otis and Shane get back with that respirator.”

So they were searching for a respirator, good to know. “What about the bleeding? Does that need an operation?”

“I don’t know for sure, sometimes these things will heal on their own but considering the state of everything I don’t think it will.”

Tonks nodded slowly, trying to figure out what the  _ hell _ she could do for this kid. She wasn’t a trained medic for Merlin’s sake! She could patch wounds and soothe burns, splint bones and even restore flesh for a splinch. This was different though, a gunshot was different. She didn’t dare try to mend the shot itself, not with the bullet fragments still in, but the internal bleeding? In theory, she could mend the artery. In practice, she wasn’t entirely confident. 

“You okay ma’am?” The man said, pausing by Tonks to look at her with concern.

“M’ name’s Tonks, and yeah. Just… thinking,” Tonks sighed.

“Soon as Otis gets back with what I need, things will be fine. Oh, and I’m Hershal,” The man said as he ambled out of the room.

Tonks knew a lie when she was told one, and that was a  _ harsh _ one. Even if Hershal could remove the bullet fragments and stitch Carl up, the boy was tiny. His blood loss was already immense, and internal bleeding was dangerous beyond the present. She was alone now… Maybe she… She had to try. This time, she had to try.

Glancing over her shoulder to check the door was truly closed, Tonks hurried to Carl’s bedside and pulled out her wand. Forcing herself to focus, Tonks hovered her wand over Carl’s wound for a moment, then carefully began a weaving motion as she muttered under her breath. It took a few tries before the extent of his wound was revealed to her, but soon enough Tonks could locate where the broken artery was.

“Only a knick, I can handle that,” Tonks muttered to herself as she tapped her wand ever-so-gently beside Carl’s wound, “ _ Emana Vena _ .”

She held perfectly still as her magic took effect, watching as Carl shifted in discomfort but not obvious pain. After a long moment of worry, Carl fell still again, and Tonks repeated the diagnosis charm. The gunshot was still there of course, but the artery was healed. It wasn’t the best work, but it was functional. It would have to do.

Stepping out of the room, Tonks nearly ran directly into Daryl. She stumbled back, physically forcing her hair to stay its unremarkable brown as did. Daryl looked understandably startled, but recovered quickly.

“Was gonna head to that school, see what’s takin’ Shane so long,” Daryl muttered, avoiding Tonks gaze, “Thought you may want to come.”

“Yeah, course I do,” Tonks replied, “Just wanted to check on Carl first.”

Daryl nodded once, shifting from foot to foot before turning and leading the way out the door. Tonks gave a small smile to the students as she passed them, suppressing a giggle as she spied both Remus and Sirius dead asleep on the small couch. 

The sun was nearing its final descent as Tonks stepped out, leaving them probably a scant half hour of usable light. Daryl started towards his bike, his crossbow slung over his shoulder. Tonks began to follow, pausing as she heard a set of voices from the other end of the porch.

“...is it better this way? Why should he stay in this world? What if… what if it’s meant to be.” It took Tonks a moment to place the voice as Lori, but once she did her stomach dropped. Surely it couldn’t be…

“He’s our  _ boy _ ,” Rick cried softly, “I know… I know this world ain’t easy, but we can’t just give up. We can’t. What happened? What changed?”

“What?”

“At the CDC, you were with us. You wanted a chance, to keep fightin’, keep livin’. What changed?”

“I don’t know, I just… maybe this isn’t a world for children anymore.”

Tonks had half a mind to stomp over there and yell some sense into that woman. This world was a shit place, but dammit if she could grow up during the height of the Wizarding War then she could live through this. She was mid turn towards the voices before a hand caught her arm and pulled her back. She whirled, expecting to find Remus or perhaps Sirius, but it was only Daryl, looking impatient.

“Gonna keep wastin’ daylight? Comeon, let’s get a move on.”

Tonks cast a glance over her shoulder before she followed Daryl, trying to shove the disturbing conversation out of her mind. It was only a partially successful effort. Forcing her jaw to relax, Tonks settled uneasily behind Daryl, clinging to his jacket a bit as the bike roared to life.  _ Muggle contraptions _ .

…

Five minutes later they silently rolled up to the school, Tonks having cast a silencing charm as soon as they were out of sight from the farm. Daryl parked close to the truck Shane and Otis had taken, though it seemed abandoned.

“ _ Lumos maxima _ ,” Tonks whispered as they dismounted. The parking lot was mostly empty, only a few unmoving corpses and scattered limbs upon the ground. A couple of empty--and likely raided--police cars were parked on one end, a medical trailer parked on the other end, the door flung open.

“Looks like they made it here at least,” Daryl commented, striding forward to the edge of the light, “Got some flares. Tryin’ draw something away maybe?”

“If there was a herd here, it’s gone now,” Tonks replied, flicking her wand to allow the light to float, “Don’t suppose you can track them at all.”

“Nah, not in this light, not on pavement. Can take a guess though,” Daryl said, pointing towards the school itself, “They get the supplies and then get cornered by Walkers, I’d run in there. School’s got riot gates usually, and fire doors. If they can’t get to the road, Shane’ll take em to shelter.”

“Let’s check it out then.Quietly.”

Tonks drew the orb of light closer to her again, dimming it for better secrecy as she did. Even in the lower light, Tonks could see Daryl staring at her intensely, chewing on his lip slightly.

“What?”

Daryl kept silent for a moment, then shifted his bow to one hand and fumbled with his knife, flipping it around to hand it to her. “Here, if we run into Otis you can’t use your magic. Don’t want ya to be defenseless.”

Tonks grinned, taking the hunting blade and clipping it to her belt. “Thanks.”

“I’ll want it back. Let’s go,” Daryl huffed, hurrying off before Tonks could comment more on the gesture.

They fell into a tense silence as they skirted the few cars scattered in the parking lot, squinting into the darkness. Approaching the front of the building, they both froze in their tracks, Tonks snuffing out the light on instinct. Daryl fidgeted, lifting his bow slightly as Tonks drew her borrowed knife.

Silence.

Then, a low, gurgling growl. Inferi. 

Their eyes were slow to adjust to the lack of light, so Tonks could barely make out the outline of the school in front of her. She shifted to the left, tugging Daryl with her until they were both semi-sheltered behind a bush. They sat in still silence for a long moment until they saw it. A small herd of walkers, milling aimlessly in front of the school.

“Not feeding,” Tonks whispered, Daryl humming his response.

“Too many to take out just us, ‘less you wanna use magic,” Daryl muttered after a moment, his eyes adjusting faster than hers evidently.

“Rather not unless we get attacked, don’t know where Otis is yet and don’t wanna risk that.”

“Then let’s go,” Daryl said, half rising to hurry away on silent feet. Honestly, she’d have to learn how he moved like that, barely making a sound! At least she hadn’t tripped on the curbside.

They hadn’t even made it halfway across the parking lot before a loud bang rang out, making them both startle. Gunshots, hopefully from their people.

“This way,” Daryl said as a second shot rang out. He took off at a quick job, crossbow at the ready. Tonks hurried to follow, keeping her wand in one hand and knife in the other.

They skirted the main entrance to the school and around the side of the building, following a thin path around the courts to the open walk beyond. Another shot rang out as they sprinted around the corner and arrived at their destination. They both froze for a moment, trying to comprehend the scene.

Two figures were half stumbling down the path towards them, laden with bulky bags and struggling to stay upright. Behind them were Inferi. 50 of them at least. They gave chase at a half jog, stumbling over each other with outstretched arms and gaping maws, hungry for flesh. Tonks couldn’t tell if they were children or not in this light, but she chose to believe the latter. 

Tonks watched in almost slow motion as an Inferius broke out from the pack, almost sprinting ahead to reach the pair who had stopped in the road. Daryl reacted before her, lifting his bow to shoot a startlingly accurate shot and sending the corpse to the floor a few paces away from the figures. They didn’t seem to notice, focused on the weapons in their hands. Daryl leaned down to reload his bow, and Tonks saw it. 

The man on the left, lifting his weapon. 

Towards the other man.

“ _ Expelliarmus! _ ” Tonks didn’t pause to consider the consequences as she shouted the spell, sending the handgun flying from the man’s grasp. She had to act. 

The pair whirled to face her as the gun shot from their hands, finally revealing their identities. Shane and the man who must be Otis, the latter armed.  _ Shit _ . Fix that later, get out safe now.

“Come on! Let’s GO!” Daryl shouted, running forward to grab at Shane and haul them forward, Tonks at his heels. 

They stumbled forward as some strange unit, Daryl laden with a bulky weapon and an injured Shane. Otis was out of breath and wheezing, his already sizable bulk doubled by the bags on his shoulder. It was going too slow. The dead were closing in. 

Fuck it. What’s a few more spells?

“ _ Protego _ ,” Tonks cried, abandoning her post at Otis’ side. Inferi hit the invisible barrier hard, tumbling over themselves and piling up like a rockslide. Few of them kept their footing over the tangle of limbs, leaving a massive wall of growling, hungry corpses, banging fruitlessly at seemingly nothing. Good start, now to cover their asses.

“ _ Ignius Tempus,” _ Tonks held her ground as the flame leapt from her wand, engulfing the wriggling bodies in a wave. The fire consumed quickly, incinerating those nearest and alighting those further back. Tonks released the spell after a moment, allowing the fire to burn on its own while the Inferi still struggled with the barrier. 

Satisfied they wouldn’t be chased, Tonks turned and ran after their people, somewhat startled to find them barely ten paces away. Daryl was trying to haul Otis along, though the larger man was staring aghast at the flames leaping to the sky.

“What in God’s name--”

“No time for that, we need to  _ go _ ,” Tonks said as she grabbed at the bag on his shoulder. Otis hardly noticed, so Tonks split the bag’s strap, tore it from his body, repaired the strap, and slung it over her own shoulders. Daryl took this as his cue to physically haul the man forward, shoving him towards where Shane hovered a few steps away.

“Hurry, group of em are still at the front. Might not get caught up in 'em if we move fast,” Daryl said, releasing Otis’ shirt and taking point. 

Turning the corner, it became evident they had not moved fast enough. The herd from the front had arrived, attracted by the noise and flames. There was no time to hide.The Inferi caught sight of them and came stumbling towards them. Tonks was quicker.

“ _ Immobulus _ ,” Tonks shouted, and the Inferi all froze mid step. They teetered for a moment, then fell forwards, crashing against each other in a strange game of dominoes. “ _ Bombarda. _ ” 

Tonks had roughly aimed for the center of the staggered pile of Inferi, which turned out to be a tremendously funny if not particularly clever idea. Her spell was powerful, the explosion hitting concrete and sending corpses  _ flying _ in all directions. Daryl roughly pulled the Otis and Shane down as one flew directly at them, though Tonks deflected it away on dueling instinct alone. On one hand, the path was clear. On the other hand, the Inferi were a bit more…  _ everywhere _ .

They didn’t have time to wait for the dust to settle though, so Tonks took the lead. She hurried across the explosion site, snuffing out the few Inferi close enough to snag at ankles had they had their mobility. She didn’t have to look back to know the other three were following her; Shane’s shuffling steps and Otis’ wheezing were signal enough.

Finally,  _ finally _ they reached the parking lot with their vehicles, and it was blissfully empty. Tonks sprinted the last few lengths to the truck, throwing the bag into the bed. Shane arrived moments later, tossing his own bag in and climbing into the driver’s seat. Daryl shoved the understandably stunned Otis at Tonks and darted off to his bike. Tonks cast one last glance around before dragging Otis into the truck as it roared to life. 

No one said a word as they sped out of there.

…

“Do we tell him?”

Remus, of course, always asked the reasonable questions.

“We have to,” Sirius hissed, looking ready to pick a fight.

“Not now. Carl’s not out of danger quite yet, something could go wrong with the surgery,” Tonks sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose, “I know what I saw, and I don’t think we can trust him, but Rick’s got enough on his plate right now. We can keep an eye on things, until Rick’s got his head back.”

“We don’t know how long that will be! You said it yourself, he’s a  _ threat _ . How can we let him stay here? He was going to kill Otis!” Sirius kept his voice quiet, but just barely.

“Shane’s  _ Rick’s best friend _ , this sort of thing doesn’t just get tossed around! Rick thinks good of Shane, we throw something like that into the mix and we’ve got a recipe for chaos.”

“She’s right, Sirius,” Remus said somberly, “When I first heard of your arrest, it threw my entire world off balance. Things were a mess already, and thinking someone I had trusted had betrayed me like that was the worst thing that could have happened, even though it was a lie. Our group is still in tatters, we have to  _ wait _ .”

“What if Otis says something?” Sirius squared his shoulders, his tone that of a challenge.

“We can’t control that, but I don’t think he will,” Tonks interjected, “Otis was pretty freaked out by magic, I’m not sure he even realized what happened was real necessarily. He might chalk it up to some stress induced hallucination.”

Sirius glared at the wall for a moment, then sighed. “Alright, fine. I’ll stick close to him. Easier to explain to the farm folk why a dog is following someone than a person.”

“He knows you can be a dog though,” Remus pointed out.

“And he knows he’s guilty too. He already knows our hand, no point in hiding our cards now. We have our plan, let’s go already.” Sirius punctuated his statement by turning into a dog, nosing once at Remus’ hand before trotting out of the room. Tonks shared a bemused glance with Remus before following him.

If she was being honest, Tonks wasn’t entirely convinced it was the right plan. She knew Rick couldn’t take the betrayal right now, but the thought of leaving clearly unstable Shane around the students was stomach churning. Sirius was competent, sure, but Shane was clever. She couldn’t be sure how malicious and determined the man was, which was the problem really.

Ducking back into what was essentially the “waiting room”, Tonks forced her gaze away from Shane and Otis, landing instead on the worried faces of Lori and Rick. The kids had been ushered out a while ago, their anxious energy put to use in unpacking and setting up the tents. There was nothing any of them could do yet, making the wait excruciating.

“Any news yet?” Tonks addressed the general room as she spoke.

“Not yet, he’s still in surgery,” Glenn provided after a moment, “You got here in the nick of time though.”

Tonks could find no response to that other than a nod, so she let the topic drop. Feeling too bouncy to sit and wait, Tonks ducked out the front door to get some air.

Seeing Daryl perched on the front porch railing wasn’t that surprising, but his intent gaze through the window was. Had he not glanced at her as she approached, she would have thought he was in a trance.

“Here,” Tonks said as she held out his knife to him, “Didn’t even have to use it.”

“Maybe ya should’ave,” Daryl muttered, taking the knife from her without really looking. “Ya saw what he did.”

“Would have been bad to come back one man short like that,” Tonks replied, “Besides, we have a plan on how to deal with him.”

“Yeah? And what’s that?”

“Wait,” Tonks admitted sourly, “We can’t tell Rick when he’s already walking on glass, so we gotta wait for Carl to be out of danger. Sirius is gonna keep an eye on Shane til we get there, and Remus and I will too.”

“It’s dangerous to keep him around,” Daryl said, finally tearing his hawk-like gaze from Shane to look her in the eye.

“It’s dangerous not to. We’re caught between a rock and a hard place, we just have to wait for one of them to shift,” Tonks sighed, leaning against the railing next to Daryl, “It’s not a fool proof plan, but we haven’t exactly got much choice.”

“And Otis?”

“He’s a wildcard,” Tonks said, “I don’t know if he even saw what Shane was going to do, but I do know he was pretty freaked out by magic. I don’t think he’ll be talking about this night for a while.”

Daryl hummed, turning back to the window. “I’ll keep an eye on him as well then. Don’t like all this waiting around.”

“Nor do I.”

They fell into a silence after that, lost in their own thoughts. Tonks tried to keep her mind free from the dangers at hand, looking for some relief, but it just kept circling back. She had seen Shane’s aggressive nature before, seen how it had helped at the CDC. The man wasn’t entirely bad, but something had changed fundamentally. She couldn’t trust him anymore, not with her life and certainly not with anyone else's. She only wished she knew what had happened.

The night slipped by slowly, and it was well after midnight before there was any news of Carl. Hershel lumbered out slowly, white shirt stained with blood. Instantly, everyone inside was at attention. Tonks pushed off the railing to slip inside, Daryl hovering in the doorway behind her.

“He made it through surgery alright,” Hershel soothed the concerned parents quickly, “That artery I was worried about must have been a pretty small nick, it was all healed by the time I got in there. We got all the fragments out and sewed him up, now it’s up to him. We’ll keep an eye on his blood pressure and heart rate, but he’s got a good chance now. I think your boy will be okay.”

Lori was already tucking her head into Rick halfway through the doctor’s statement, quiet sobs escaping her. Sighs of relief filtered through the room, even Sirius whining his own happiness and leaning into Remus’ legs. Tonks felt some of the weight on her shoulders lift, the tension falling away at last. They weren’t home free exactly, but  _ damn _ it was nice to hear some good news. She took a moment to share a relieved smile with Remus before ducking out of the house, Daryl already returned to his self-proclaimed post.

She crossed the yard slowly, taking deep breaths of the night air as she approached the temporary campsite. The children were gathered about a small pile of warm coals, all curled up on themselves. Ginny looked up first as she approached, nudging Ron to wakefulness once she realized it was Tonks.

“Carl’s out of surgery, Hershel says he thinks he’ll be okay.”

Tonks couldn’t help but grin at the cries of relief and excitement from the group, some of the worry slipping from their faces. It was nice to see them smile a little, pulling each other into hugs with a little more ease than before. She settled down on a log nearby, letting herself relax just a little bit more. 

Things weren’t fixed, but there was hope now, and wasn’t that enough? 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To the person who said they kinda ship Tonks/Daryl: *shrugs*
> 
> As another note, I've got a fair few things going on in the next two weeks, so don't be surprised if my next chapter is late! I've got some ideas on what I want to happen next, but the time and energy to write is limited right now.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Kudos and comments are really appreciated, I would love to know where you want the story to go from here!


End file.
